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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

Chap. Copyright No.. 

Shelf, lW$ 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



CATHOLIC TEACHING 



FOR CHILDREN. 



BY / 
/ 

WINIFRIDE WRAY. 



New York, Cincinnati, Chicago : 
BEM^IGER BROTHERS, 

Printers to the Holy Apostolic See. 

1899. 
1 




IRibU ©bstat. 



/ 



y 



>^> 



REMY LAFORT, 



Censor Librorum. 



Umprfmatur : 



31804 



* MICHAEL AUGUSTINE, 

Archbishop of New York. 



New York, December 2, 1898. 



TWOCOP^o KfcCfZIVED, 



APR i 2 1899 




Copyright, 1899, by Benzioer Brothers. 






PREFACE. 



The idea of this book is to combine a course of 
Christian Doctrine and one of Scripture History, 
especially that of the ]NTew Testament, and to put 
the whole into language such as children, say from 
seven to fifteen, may easily understand for them- 
selves without the help of a teacher. Such a book 
may also be a help to teachers in giving to children 
simple explanations of the Catechism and of Scrip- 
ture. 

Experience has shown that careful explanation, 
and exceedingly simple explanation, of the words of 
the Catechism is absolutely necessary, in order that 
young children may properly understand them, and 
may obtain through them any real and lasting grasp 
of the sublime mysteries of the Faith which they 
teach. Hence too frequently it unfortunately hap- 
pens that, for want of such explanation, our chil- 
dren leave school with very imperfect ideas of 
doctrine, and thus, forgetting the sense, forget also, 
quickly and entirely, those words of the Catechism 
which they had so diligently studied. Thus, though 
they have seemed to do well at school, they grow up 
very ignorant of their religion. 



4 Preface, 

A book, therefore, by the help of which children 
may be able by themselves to take in and be inter- 
ested with the necessary truths and ideas, will be a 
great assistance to them towards understanding the 
Catechism, and so towards keeping in their minds 
during life both its doctrine and its words. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER PAGE 

Preface . . . .• 3 

Introduction 7 

I. God and the Angels 10 

II. How the World was made 13 

III. The Garden of Eden— The Temptation 

and Fall of Man — The Punishment of 
Sin — The Deluge— The Ark of Noe . . 15 

IV. The Blessed Trinity — The Annunciation 

— The Visitation — The Birth of Christ 19 
V. The Finding in the Temple— St. John 
the Baptist — The Public Life of Jesus 

— The Apostles 28 

VI. The Sermon on the Mount — The] Beati- 
tudes . 38 

VII. The Miracles of Our Lord — The Trans- 
figuration 44 

VIII. Palm Sunday — The Last Supper — Christ's 

Agony in the Garden — The Passion. . 49 
IX. The Passion of Christ ( Continued. ) ... 58 
X. The Burial of Jesus — His Resurrection 

— He Appears to the Disciples ... 65 
XI. Our Lord's Words to St. Peter and the 

Disciples — His Ascension 72 

5 



6 Contents. 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XII. The Election of St. Matthias — The De- 
scent of the Holy Ghost 80 

XIII. The Parables 86 

XIV. The Apostles' Creed ........ 105 

XV. The Apostles' Creed (Continued.) . . . . 116 

XVI. The Commandments of God 127 

XVII. The Commandments of the Church. . .136 

XVIII. The Sacraments 145 

XIX. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass — Bene- 
diction — Vespers — Compline 154 

XX. Prayer — Missions — Pilgrimages — Re- 
treats • 160 

XXI. Prayer (Continued). — " Our Father" — 

"Hail Mary" 167 

XXII. Our Blessed Lady 176 

XXIII. The Saints 186 

XXIV. Religious Orders 191 



CATHOLIC TEACHING FOR CHILDREN. 



INTKODUCTION. , 

When we see the beautiful world around us filled 
with men, women, and children, animals, trees, and 
flowers, we wonder how all these things began, and 
to whom they belong. 

We know that men can build houses and 
churches, they can make statues and paint pic- 
tures, and plant trees and flowers, but they cannot 
nake them without things to make them with. 
Their pictures and statues will not live, nor will 
She trees or flowers grow without the seed which 
kas been planted. No man can create — that is, make 
to be, or exist — a single thing. It is only God who 
can create or make persons or things out of nothing 
by His word. If God wishes to make a flower, that 
flower will immediately exist; but if a man wants 
a flower he must first plant the seeds which God 
has made; he must take great pains to water them, 
and then wait a long time till the flower comes into 
bloom. 

Now, if there were no one to tell us about it, we 
should never be able to know how men first began 

7 



8 Introduction. 

to exist; but that same Person who created us has 
told or revealed to us how and why He made us, 
and what He wishes us to do. 

A long time ago there was no heaven, no earth, 
no men, animals, trees, or flowers; but there was a 
great Spirit who had always been living, who had 
had no beginning, and would have no end, and who 
was almighty — that is to say, able to do all things. 

It is very difficult for us to understand how any- 
thing can have no beginning and no end. If you 
ask your mother to show you her wedding-ring, you 
will see how it is made all in one piece, without any 
join, just the same all the way round. Wedding- 
rings are made in that way because a circle is a 
symbol or image of eternity. The ring shows that 
when people are married it is forever and ever. 
When we see a wedding-ring, it should remind us 
of God, who has had no beginning, and will have 
no end. 

This great Spirit who made us we call God. The 
Jews named Him Adonai; the French call Him 
Dieu; and every country has its own name for 
Him. 

Before the beginning of the world this great 
Spirit whom we call God wished to create some 
beings to His own image and likeness, who should 
be happy with Him forever and ever in heaven. 
But first of all He wished them to deserve this 
eternity of happiness, so He created heaven, and 
a world on which these beings should live for a 
time before going to heaven. 

" All the people who live on the earth," said this 
great Spirit, " must first show themselves worthy of 



Introduction. 9 

going to heaven by doing as I shall tell them upon 
the earth." 

This is why God created men and the world, and 
if we listen to what priests and those who are in 
charge of us tell us, we shall know what God wishes 
us to do that we may deserve to go to heaven. 



CHAPTEE I. 

GOD AND THE ANGELS. 

Before God created men, and the world on which 
they were to live, He made the angels. Angels are 
beautiful beings, made by God. They are not like 
us, for they are pure spirits — that is to say, they 
have no body, and though they are all around us, 
we cannot see them or hear them. When God first 
made these beautiful spirits, He let them live in 
heaven, but they might not see Him till they had 
deserved this great happiness. 

To deserve it they had to fight against the temp- 
tation of pride, which made them think themselves 
as great as God who had made them. Many of the 
angels would not give way to this wicked thought, 
and were faithful to God; but some were proud, 
and would not fight against temptation; so God al- 
lowed St. Michael to drive them away out of heaven 
to a place of punishment called hell, and instead of 
angels they became devils. Those angels who were 
good and faithful were allowed to remain in heaven 
and enjoy the sight of God. 

The angels love men because God created them 
and loves them, so they do all they can to help them 
to live so well upon the earth as to deserve to go 

10 



God and the Angels. II 

to heaven after their death; but the devils hate 
men, and are jealous of them, so they try to make 
them wicked, so that God will not be able to have- 
them in His heaven in the places left empty by 
the wicked angels. 

God allows the devils to tempt us, because if we 
do not give way to temptation we shall deserve to 
go to heaven ; but He always gives us strength to 
keep good, and a guardian angel to watch over us- 
The more times we are tempted, and still remaiir 
faithful, the better pleased is God with us. 

Supposing a little child was left alone in a room 
with a plate of cherries, or some sweets, the devil 
would try hard to persuade it to take just a few 
cherries, or just one or two sweets, and would prom- 
ise it that no one would find out. If that little 
child were to say to itself, " Xo, I will not touch 
those nice things; they are not mine, and God can 
see me, and my guardian angel would be grieved/' 
that little child would deserve that God should be 
very pleased with it, much more pleased than if the 
little child had not been tempted and overcome the 
temptation. 

It is just the same with big sins. God lets us be- 
tried, but it is only because we have to deserve to 
go to heaven. When we die we shall not be angels, 
but we shall be glorious beings like the angels, and 
shall see God as the angels do. There are very 
many angels in heaven, more than all the men who 
will have lived on the earth up to the very end of 
the world. 

There are a great many devils too, and they are 
always trying to tempt men to be wicked. We can- 



12 God and the Angels. 

not see them or hear them because they are spirits; 
but when we feel a great wish to do something 
naughty, we know that the devil is tempting us, and 
we must say a little prayer to God to help us to be 
good. 



CHAPTEK II. 

HOW THE WORLD WAS MADE. 

God did not make the world in one day. He 
created it little by little in six days. When we 
say " days " we do not mean days of twenty-four 
hours, as we have them. By " day " is meant a 
certain time: we do not know how long. 

When God first made the earth, it was covered 
over with water, and all around was darkness. 

The "first day" God said: 

" Let there be light." So all the darkness was 
gone from the earth, and it grew bright and cheer- 
ful. 

The " second day " God said : 

" Let there be the firmament." So immediately 
the beautiful blue sky appeared, and the clouds 
that we see upon it. 

The " third day " God commanded the water that 
covered the earth to collect itself into seas and 
rivers, and to let the dry land appear. So moun- 
tains, hills, and plains rose above the waters. 

Then God said: 

" Let the earth bring forth grass and trees and 
fruit and flowers;" and instantly the earth became 
fertile — that is to say, covered with trees and plants 
growing out of it. 

13 



14 How the World teas made. 

On the " fourth day " God made the sun to give 
us light and warmth in the day, and the moon and 
stars to shine by night. 

The "fifth day" God said: 

" Let the water bring forth fish, and the air 
every winged fowl, according to its kind," and at 
once all these came into being: the waters were 
filled with fish; birds, butterflies, and winged in- 
sects appeared in the air. „ 

And on the " sixth day " God created all kinds 
of animals. 

Then He said: 

" I will make man to My own image and likeness, 
and he shall have power over the fishes of the sea, 
and the birds of the air, and the beasts of the field, 
and over the whole world." So God made the first 
man, and called him Adam. 

On the " seventh day " God rested, in order to 
teach us that we must give up part of our time to 
His service: the six days of the week we are to 
work, but the seventh we must keep holy and give 
up to the service of God. 

Even little children can do a great deal to keep 
Sunday holy. When they go to Mass they must 
be careful to say their prayers and their rosary 
well, and not look about them, or disturb other peo- 
ple by fidgeting about. If they have a prayer-book, 
it is best for them to follow the Mass; if they 
have no book, or are too young to read, they can 
say " Our Fathers," and " Hail Marys," and pray 
for every one they know. 



CHAPTEE III. 

THE GARDEN OF EDEN — THE TEMPTATION" AND 

FALL OF MAN — THE PUNISHMENT OF SIN — THE 

DELUGE — THE ARK OF NOE. 

When God had created the first man, whose name 
was Adam, He made a most beautiful garden, called 
the Garden of Eden, for him to live in. God planted 
in it trees of all kinds and the most lovely flowers. 
There were streams of water, and everything that 
could make Adam happy. God told him that he 
might enjoy everything in this garden, on one con- 
dition. He must not eat the fruit of one particular 
tree which God pointed out to him. 

After a time Adam began to feel very lonely, 
so God created the first woman, whom He called 
Eve, to be a companion to Adam; and Adam and 
Eve lived together in the Garden of Eden, and 
served God, and were very happy. But the devil, 
who, as I told you, hates God, and is always trying 
to do what will offend Him, made up his mind to 
persuade Adam and Eve to disobey God, so that 
they would no longer deserve to go to heaven. So 
he took the form of a serpent, and spoke to Eve, 
saying : 

" Why do you not eat the fruit of this tree ? -No 

15 



16 The Garden of Eden. 

other tree in the garden is so beautiful, or has such 
ripe fruit." 

Eve answered that God had told them that they 
might take what they liked in the garden, but that 
they must not touch tkat one tree, or they would die. 

Then the devil began to tell Eve how silly she 
was not to taste the beautiful ripe fruit. 

" God will never know, if you only take a little," 
he said. " Besides, if you eat of that fruit, you will 
not die, but you will be as wise as God, for that 
tree is the tree of knowledge." 

Now Eve, instead of praying to God to help her 
to resist temptation, and going quickly away from 
the serpent, listened to his voice until she was per- 
suaded to pick some of the forbidden fruit. This 
she took to Adam, and together they ate some of 
it. 

Then immediately they knew what they had done, 
for the tree was the tree of the knowledge of good 
and evil, and as soon as they had eaten of its fruit 
they were ashamed and afraid. They hid them- 
selves away among the trees, and repented of their 
disobedience; but it was too late. 

God spoke to Adam, and said: 

" Have you eaten of the fruit which I commanded 
you not to eat ? " 

Then Adam tried to excuse himself, saying : 

" Eve, whom Thou didst give me for a wife, 
tempted me, and I did eat." 

Then God said to Eve: 

" Why didst thou do this ? " 

So Eve tried to throw the blame on the serpent 
who had tempted her. Then God told the serpent 



The Temptation and Fall of Man. 17 

that he should be punished forever and ever, be- 
cause of the wicked thing that he had done; and 
to Eve God said: 

" Thou shalt have many sorrows with thy chil- 
dren, and thou shalt be subject to thy husband all 
the days of thy life." 

And then God told Adam that the whole earth 
was cursed for his sin. 

" Thou shalt earn thy bread by the sweat of thy 
brow," He said, " until thou returnest to the earth 
from which thou wast taken, for dust thou art, and 
to dust thou shalt return." 

So Adam and Eve were turned out of the beauti- 
ful garden, and an angel with a fiery sword stood 
at the gate of it, to prevent them from ever going 
back. 

Adam and Eve were very miserable, for they 
knew that their bodies would now suffer from the 
cold of the winter and the heat of the summer, and 
that they would feel pain and sickness, and at last 
they would have to die, instead of living so happily 
in the Garden of Eden till it was time for them to 
go to heaven; but they were very sorry for their 
sin, and tried to be very good and patient to make 
up for it. 

First, they made themselves clothes out of the 
skins of animals; for now that their bodies could 
feel pain, they were afraid of being cold, and also 
of suffering from the pricks of thorns and nettles. 
ISText, they began to dig and jplough, and sow seeds, 
for when God said to Adam, " The earth is cursed 
for thy sin; thou shalt earn thy bread by the sweat 
of thy brow," He meant that the earth would no 



18 The Deluge— The Ark of Noe. 

longer bring forth trees and fruit and vegetables 
and flowers unless men worked very hard to culti- 
vate them; so that Adam and Eve would have 
starved if they had not worked, for the fields would 
have produced nothing but weeds and brambles. 

Adam and Eve lived a very long time, and had 
a great many children and grandchildren, so that 
at last the world became very full of people, as it 
is now. By degrees these people forgot to love and 
fear God, and when the devil tempted them to do 
wicked things they listened to him, so that the 
world grew very wicked. 

Then God sent a dreadful punishment to the peo- 
ple of the earth. He made it rain and rain without 
stopping, till at last the whole earth was covered 
with water and every one was drowned, except one 
good man, named 'Noe, and his family, whom God 
saved in a great big boat, or ark. 

After a time the waters went down, and Xoe 
and his family came out of the ark in which God 
had saved them. They lived on the earth, and had 
more children and grandchildren, till there were 
again a great many people on the earth. 

For a time these people remembered how God 
had punished men for their sins, so they were good 
and holy, but by degrees they again forgot God, 
and became more wicked than ever. 

Now, God had been very sorry to think that His 
creatures, whom He had meant to be happy with 
Him, were so wicked that they would deserve to 
go to hell, so He had determined to save them. I 
will tell you in the next chapter what God did to 
save mankind. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE BLESSED TRINITY — THE ANNUNCIATION — 
THE VISITATION — THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 

I told you in the first chapter about the great 
Spirit who had always been, and who would never 
die, and whom we call God. Well, there is only 
one God, but in this one God there are three Per- 
sons, God the Father, God the Son, and God the 
Holy Gfhost. 

These three Persons, who are all one God, are all 
three as great as one another, as old as one another, 
and as wise, and as good. They are all three quite 
equal, and are only one God. We call the three 
Persons the Blessed Trinity. 

As I told you in the last chapter, God had made 
up His mind to help the people on the earth to be- 
come good, so that they might be able to go to 
heaven; and the Second Person of the Blessed 
Trinity, whom we call God the Son, had said 
that He would come down into the world and take 
on Himself the sins of men. To do this He would 
become a man, just like other men, with a body 
which would suffer pain, and which would die; so 
He took a human shape and body, and was born as 
a little baby on Christmas day. His Mother was 

19 



20 The Annunciation. 

the Blessed Virgin Mary, and her husband, St. 
Joseph, was the guardian or foster-father of our 
blessed Lord. 

The little Baby, who was God, took the name of 
Jesus, which means Saviour, because He had come 
to save mankind; and we call Him Jesus Christ, 
which means anointed, because He is Our King 
as well as Our Saviour, and kings are always 
anointed when they are crowned. 

Now I will tell you about the life of Our Lord 
Jesus Christ upon earth. 

First of all, before the time came for Him to be 
born, God sent one of His angels, whose name was 
Gabriel, to tell the Blessed Virgin what was to hap- 
pen to her. 

The angel appeared to Our Lady, and said: 

" Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee " ; 
then he told her that she would have a little baby, 
and that that little baby would be God the Son, 
who was coming to the earth to save mankind. 

Our Lady was at first much frightened, for she 
knew that no woman could deserve to have such an 
honor. But she remembered that God knows best 
about everything, so she said: 

" Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done 
unto me according to Thy word;" that is to say, 
I am God's servant, and He must do with me any- 
thing He wishes. 

Then the angel told the Blessed Virgin that her 
cousin, St. Elizabeth, would soon have a little baby; 
so Our Lady went immediately to visit St. Eliza- 
beth and to help her. 

When Our Lady had nearly come to the end of 



TJie Visitation. 21 

her journey, St. Elizabeth came out to meet her. 
As soon as she saw the Blessed Virgin, the Holy 
Ghost told her what had been done, and she 
said : 

" Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is 
the fruit of thy womb;" for she knew that Our 
Lady's little Baby was the Saviour or Messias, 
whom the Jews had always been expecting to come 
and save them. 

For a time Our Lady stayed with her cousin, till 
St. Elizabeth's son, St. John the Baptist, was born. 
The husband of St. Elizabeth was St. Zachary. 
God sent St. Gabriel the archangel to tell him that 
his wife would have a son, whose name was to be 
John, and who would be very good and holy; but 
St. Zachary would not believe what he was told, 
so the angel said to him : 

" Thou shalt be dumb, and shalt not be able to 
speak, until thy son is born." 

So St. Zachary was dumb until after the baby 
was born, and then God allowed him to speak, and 
he called the child John, as the angel had com- 
manded him. 

Then the Blessed Virgin went back to her home 
in Nazareth, where she and St. Joseph lived. 

After a time, the king or emperor, whose name 
was Csesar, ordered that every man should go to 
the town to which his father had belonged, so that 
his name should be written down, for Caesar wanted 
to know how many people he had to govern. 

So St. Joseph and Our Lady travelled together 
to Bethlehem, where St. Joseph belonged. I am 
sure you have often seen pictures of Our Lady 



22 The Birth of Christ. 

riding on a donkey, with St. Joseph walking be- 
side her, taking care of her. 

When they came to Bethlehem it was late in the 
evening, so St. Joseph tried to find a place of shel- 
ter for Our Lady; but the houses were all full, 
and nobody would take them in. 

At last St. Joseph found a little stable with an 
ox and an ass in it. He brought Our Lady into 
this stable, and there Our Saviour was born. His 
Mother wrapped Him up in swaddling-clothes, and 
laid Him in a manger full of straw. 

At Christmas-time, when you visit the crib, you 
will see a figure of a little baby lying in a poor, 
miserable stable, with not even a bed to lie on, or 
nice, warm clothes to wear, and that will remind 
you of the birth of Our Lord in the stable at Beth- 
lehem. 

How proud and grateful we ought to be when 
we think that God loved us so much that He came 
down from heaven to live on the earth, to be very 
poor and suffer a great deal, so as to save us and 
atone — that is to say, make up — for our sins. 

We shall not be inclined to grumble at every 
little pain or trouble or disappointment when we 
think of the little Baby who was born in the poor 
stable, though all the while He was King of heaven 
and earth. 

Now I must tell you what wonderful things hap- 
pened on the earth the night Our Saviour was born. 
The first people to know of His birth were some 
poor shepherds, who were minding their sheep on a 
mountain near Bethlehem. 

As they were sitting round their fire, for it was 



The Birth of Christ. 23 

very cold, and they had lighted a fire on the hill- 
side, they heard a sound of most beautiful music, 
and looking up they saw an angel, who said to them : 

" Be not afraid, for behold, I bring you tidings 
of great joy, for to-night a Saviour is born to you." 

Then the angel told them that they would find 
the Saviour lying in a manger in a stable at Beth- 
lehem. Then a great number of angels appeared 
in the sky, and they were praising God, singing 
" Gloria in excelsis Deo," which means " Glory be 
to God in heaven, and on earth peace to men of 
good-will ; " that is, to people who wish to be good. 

As soon as the angels had gone, the shepherds, 
said to one another: 

" Let us go at once and see what is this wonderful 
thing that has happened." 

So they left their sheep and went quickly down 
the mountain, and found the stable in which the 
infant Jesus was lying, and they adored and wor- 
shipped ITim. 

When the eighth day after the birth of Our Lord 
had come, He was circumcised according to the 
law of the Jews; for, though the little baby Jesus 
was really God and all powerful, yet, as man, He 
obeyed the law in all things, so as to set an example 
of obedience to men. 

The next people to hear about the birth of Our 
Lord were very different from the poor shepherds. 

Far away in the East there lived three kings, who 
were also very wise and good. God had told men 
that one day a Saviour would be born to redeem the 
world, and that wonderful things would happen 
when He was born, so tbat men should know that 



24 The Birth of Christ. 

their Saviour was come. Among other signs a new 
star was to appear to announce or tell of the birth 
of Our Redeemer, that is to say, Saviour. 

Once, while these kings were praying, they saw 
the new star appear in the heavens. So they knew 
that the Lord must be going to be born. Imme- 
diately they set off to go to Him, taking with them 
rich presents of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 
Gold, as the symbol or image 01 money given in 
alms to the poor; frankincense, as the symbol of 
prayer and praise; and myrrh, as that of penance. 
These three gifts meant that the kings were willing 
to give up all their riches and power to serve God 
and praise Him, and to suffer for His sake. 

All the time that the Wise Men were travelling 
the star moved in front of them to show them the 
way, and at night it shone brightly, so that they 
were not left in darkness. 

When they had gone a long way the Wise Men 
came to Jerusalem, where the king of the Tews, 
whose name was Herod, was living. So they went 
to him and said: 

" Where is He that is born King of the Jews ? 
For we have seen His star, and are come to adore 
Him." 

But Herod was much frightened and troubled, for 
he said to himself: 

" If there is to be a new King of the Jews, what 
is to become of me? I shall no longer be king." 

So Herod called the priests and his advisers to- 
gether, and asked them if it was true that a new 
King was to be born, and in what place. And they 
looked in all the holy books and prophecies — that 



The Birth of Christ. 25 

is to say, promises of things that were to happen — 
and they told King Herod that the time had come 
for the Messias, or promised Saviour, to appear, 
and that He would be born in Bethlehem. 

Herod was very angry when he heard this, and he 
determined that he would find this new King, and 
kill Him. Of course he did not tell this to the 
Wise Men, but he said to them : 

" When you have found out where this new King 
is, come back and tell me, so that I too may go to 
Him and adore Him." 

This they promised to do. 

They travelled on towards Bethlehem, and still 
the star moved in front of them, to show them the 
way. At last it stopped over a poor stable, and 
the Wise Men knew they had come to the end of 
their journey. They got down from their camels, 
and went into the stable, and there they found the 
Blessed Virgin Mary, and the little baby Jesus, 
wrapped in His swaddling-clothes; and, kneeling 
down, they adored Him, and laid at His feet the 
gifts they had brought. 

When it was time for them to return to their 
own country, they made up their minds to go back 
to King Herod and tell him what they had seen ; 
but an angel appeared to them in their sleep and 
told them to go home another way, and not tell 
Herod what had happened. 

ISFow, there was a rule among the Jews that the 
eldest son of every family was to be given up to 
the service of God. But if the father and mother 
wished, they might buy him back by giving some 
present to the Temple. When forty days had passed 



2$ The Birth of Christ. 

after the birth of Jesus, St. Joseph and Our Lady 
took Him to the Temple to present Him to the 
priests, and to buy Him back for themselves with a 
pair of doves. 

While they were in the Temple, there came in a 
very holy old man, whose name was Simeon. God 
had promised him that he should not die till he had 
seen the Messias. When Simeon saw the Holy 
Family, he knew at once that the little Baby was 
the promised Saviour; and, taking Jesus in his 
arms, he thanked God for letting him live to see 
his Saviour upon earth. Then Simeon spoke to 
Our Lady, telling her of the wonderful things her 
Son would do for men, and how much He would 
suffer, and how much sorrow she would have to 
bear. Our Lady felt very sad, but she did not com- 
plain, for God knows best, and she submitted her- 
self to His will. 

Soon after the Wise Men had gone away from 
Bethlehem an angel appeared to St. Joseph, the 
foster-father of Our Lord, and said to him: 

" Arise, take the Child and His Mother, go into 
the land of Egypt and stay there until I tell thee, 
for it will come to pass that Herod will seek the 
Child, to kill Him." 

So St. Joseph rose by night and fled into Egypt 
with Our Lady and the child Jesus. Many pretty 
pictures have been painted of the Mother nursing 
her little baby, and riding with Him through the 
desert to save Him from the cruel king. 

When Herod found that the three kings did not 
return to him as they had promised, he determined 
that in spite of them he would kill the Child who 



The Birth of Christ. 27 

was to be King of the Jews. So he sent his soldiers 
to put to death all the little boys who had been 
born in Bethlehem, or near it, for two years. In 
that way he thought he would be sure to kill Jesus ; 
but his wicked deed did not do him any good, for 
Our Lord was safe in Egypt with His Mother and 
St. Joseph. 

As soon as Herod was dead the angel again ap- 
peared to St. Joseph, and told him to go back to 
Judea, for those who wished to kill the Child were 
dead. So St. Joseph returned with Our Lady and 
the holy Child to Judea. He was afraid to go to 
Bethlehem, for Herod's son was ruling there, so he 
went to live in a place called Nazareth. 

There the Holy Family lived peacefully and hap- 
pily for many years, and the child Jesus grew big 
and strong, and was full of wisdom. He was very 
obedient to His parents, who were very poor, help- 
ing them with their work, and loving them dearly. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE FINDING IN THE TEMPLE — ST. JOHN THE 
BAPTIST — THE PUBLIC LIFE OF JESUS — THE 

APOSTLES. 

Every year St. Joseph travelled to Jerusalem to 
keep the Pasch, a great Jewish feast. 

One year, when Our Lord was just twelve years 
old, He also went with His parents to Jerusalem. 
When the Pasch was over, and His parents had set 
out to return to Nazareth, they could not find Jesus. 
St. Joseph thought that He must be with Our Lady, 
and she believed Him to be with St. Joseph, for in 
those days the men and women travelled separately. 
But when they found that He was not with any of 
the company, they were dreadfully sorry to have 
lost Him. 

Quickly they went back to Jerusalem to seek for 
Jesus, and for three long days they looked for Him, 
but in vain. 

At last they found Him in the Temple, sitting 
among all the doctors and wise men, asking them 
questions about God, and answering them. Every- 
body was much surprised that a little child should 
be so wise and clever; they did not know that He 
was God, and the King of heaven and earth. 

When Our Lady and St. Joseph came into the 
Temple, Our Lady said to Jesus : 

28 



The Finding in the Temple. 29 

"Why didst Thou do so to us? Thy father and 
I have sought Thee, sorrowing." But Our Lord 
said to her : 

" Why didst thou seek Me ? Didst thou not know- 
that I must be about My Father's work ? " 

Jesus meant to explain to His Mother that she 
must make up her mind that her Son would have to 
give up His life to ' helping men, and later on to 
die for them. 

Do you remember what I told you of St. John the 
Baptist? How he was the cousin of Our Lord, and 
how the angel told his father, St. Zachary, that his 
son St. John would be very good and holy? 

Well, as St. John grew older he became very wise 
as well as good and he began to preach to the people, 
and to tell them that their Saviour was born into 
the world, and would soon show Himself to them. 
St. John used to lead a life of great penance. He 
wore only a garment of camel's hair, with a leather 
belt around him, and his only food was locusts, a 
kind of big grasshopper, and wild honey. 

The people listened to St. John and believed him, 
and he taught them how to prepare themselves for 
the coming of Jesus. 

After a time, when people came to St. John and 
confessed their sins, he baptized them in the river 
Jordan. Then some of them began to think that 
he was the Messias himself, but St. John quickly 
told them that he was only the servant of Christ, 
and had come to prepare the way of the Lord. 

" Soon there shall come," said he, " One whose- 
shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and untie." 

!Now when Jesus was thirty years old, the time 



30 St. John the Baptist. 

had come for Him to go out into the world to teach 
men how to deserve to go to heaven, so he left His 
holy Mother and went to the river Jordan to St. 
John. 

St. Joseph, the foster-father of Our Lord, was 
dead. It is supposed that he died while Our Lord 
was a very young man. 

When St. John saw that Jesus was coming to him 
to be baptized, just as though He was only a man, 
he said to Him: 

"Master, I should be baptized by Thee, and dost 
Thou come to me? " 

But Jesus answered him, " Let it be as I have 
said," for He wanted to give an example of baptism 
to all men. 

In those days people were not baptized in a font 
in church as they are now, but they were dipped in 
some river or lake. So Our Lord went down into 
the river Jordan, and St. John poured water over 
Him and baptized Him. Immediately the heavens 
opened, and God the Holy Ghost came down in the 
form of a dove on Jesus, and at the same time the 
voice of God the Father was heard from heaven, 
saying : 

" This is My well-beloved Son, in whom I am well 
pleased." 

Soon after His baptism Jesus went into the 
desert to fast and pray for forty days, and all 
that time He lived among the beasts, and tasted 
no food. 

When the forty days were passed the devil came 
and tempted Our Lord; for though He was God, 
-Jesus allowed the devil to tempt Him, that by over- 



The Public Life of Jesus. 31 

coming temptation He might set an example to 
men. First of all, the devil tempted Jesus by 
hunger. After having fasted forty days, Our Lord 
was very hungry, so the devil tried to persuade Him 
to work a miracle to satisfy His appetite. He said 
to Him: 

" Look at these stones lying in the desert ! If 
Thou art really God, Thou canst turn these stones 
into bread, so that Thou canst eat." 

But Our Lord would not work a miracle — that is 
to say, a very wonderful thing — to show His power, 
or to satisfy His hunger, so He would not listen to 
the tempter. 

Then the devil took Jesus to the top of the high 
Temple, and said to Him : 

" Throw Thyself down to the ground, for it is 
written, i He shall give His angels charge over 
Thee, lest Thou dash Thy foot against a stone.' " 

But Jesus only answered him: 

" Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." 

At last the devil took Christ to the top of a high 
mountain, and showed Him all the rich and beauti- 
ful kingdoms of the world. 

"All these," he said, "will I give to Thee, if, 
falling down, Thou wilt adore me." 

But Jesus said: 

" Thou shalt adore the Lord thy God, and Him 
only shalt thou serve." 

Then when the devil saw that Our Lord would 
not listen to him, he went away, and the angels 
came to Our Lord, and fed and comforted Him. 

Now when Jesus returned from the desert to Gali- 
lee, St. John saw Him coming, so he told the peo- 



32 The Public Life of Jesus. 

pie that here was their promised Redeemer who was 
coming to save them. 

"Behold the Lamb of God," he said, and the people 
looked at Jesus and knew that He was the Messias. 

The two first to believe in Our Lord were St. 
Andrew and his brother St. Simon, whom Our Lord 
said should be named Peter. St. Peter was after- 
wards the chief of the apostles, and the first Pope 
or head of the Church. 

By degrees other holy' people joined Our Lord, 
and became His apostles and disciples. The apos- 
tles were like the bishops that we have now; they 
helped Our Lord by preaching, and He gave to 
them the power of working miracles. The disciples 
were the followers of Christ, who believed in Him 
and followed Him. 

Now I will tell you about the first miracle, or 
wonderful thing, which Our Lord did. You will 
see that He worked His first miracle to do an act 
of kindness, and because His Mother wished Him 
to. We can learn two things from this. First, that 
Jesus likes us to be kind to one another, and, sec- 
ondly, that He never refuses to listen to His Mothe^, 
so that if we pray to her to ask God to give us some 
grace we are sure to be heard. 

In a town called Cana two people were going to 
be married. Jesus, His Mother, and His disciples 
were invited to the marriage-feast. After a time it 
was seen that the wine was finished. Perhaps the 
people were very poor, perhaps more visitors had 
come than had been expected. Anyhow, the people 
of the house were much grieved to have no wine to 
offer to their guests. 



The Public Life of Jesus. 33 

Our blessed Lady, seeing their trouble, was very 
sorry for them, and begged her divine Son to help 
them. 

Now in the room there were six large water-pots 
of stone. Jesus said to the attendants: 

" Fill up these jars with water." 

The attendants obeyed, and filled them to the 
brim. Then Our Lord told them to carry the jars 
to the chief steward — that is, the man in charge of 
the feast. When the chief steward tasted the water 
in the pots, he found it changed into wine, and the 
guests then thanked Our Lord, and believed in 
Him. 

Soon after the marriage-feast at Cana, it was 
time for the Pasch to be kept. Do you remember 
how I told you that Our Lady and St. Joseph went 
every year to Jerusalem to keep the Paschal feast? 

Well, when Jesus went this time to Jerusalem, 
He found that a number of people were selling oxen, 
and sheep, and doves for sacrifice, in the Temple, 
which was very wrong, for the church is a place 
for prayer, and not for buying and selling. So 
Jesus drove them out of the Temple, and many of 
the people were very angry with Him. 

Then He preached to the people, and told them 
many things; how they must be baptized and lead 
a new life if they wished to be saved, and how God 
had sent His only-begotten Son to take upon Him- 
self the sins of men, so that they should not go to 
hell. 

Then, after the Paschal feast, Jesus went to Ju- 
dea, and began to make His disciples baptize the 
people, as St. John the Baptist had been doing ; but 



34 The Public Life of Jesus. 

some of the people were astonished, and going to 
St. John, they said: 

" Who is this prophet who goes about baptizing 
as you do ? " 

But St. John quickly told them that Jesus was 
not a prophet, but God Himself. So many more 
people believed in Our Lord, and followed Him. 

Once, when Our Lord was passing through a 
country called Samaria, He was very tired, and sat 
down beside a well of water to rest, while His apos- 
tles went on to the town to buy some food. While 
He was resting, a woman came to draw up some 
water from the well, and Our Lord asked her to 
give Him some. 

She was not a good woman, for she had com- 
mitted many sins in her life. Jesus spoke to her, 
and told her of all the wicked things she had done. 
She was much surprised that a stranger should be 
able to tell her all the things that had happened 
in her life, and she thought that Our Lord must 
be a prophet; but Jesus told her that He was not 
a prophet, but God Himself — the promised Messias. 
The woman believed what Christ told her, and was 
very sorry for her sins. She went into the city, and 
told the people that their Saviour was come, so they 
came to hear Him preach, and they believed in Him. 

After a time, Jesus returned to Galilee. 

As He was journeying along, there came to meet 
Him a certain ruler, or rich man, whose son was 
very ill, and he begged Our Lord to come quickly 
and cure him. Jesus listened to the poor father, 
and said: 

" Go thy way, thy son liveth." 



The Public Life of Jesus. 35 

So the man went back to his house, and there he 
found that his son was well. lie asked his ser- 
vants : 

" At what time did my son get better ? " And they 
answered him: "At the seventh hour." The ruler 
knew that it was at the seventh hour that Jesus 
had said to him, "Thy son liveth;" so he and all 
his family believed in the Saviour. 

When Jesus had arrived in Nazareth, the town in 
which He had been brought up, He went into the 
synagogue, which is the Jewish church, and 
preached to the people. But they would not believe 
in Him, because they had known Him as a little 
boy; and when He told them they ought to believe, 
because He did such wonderful things, they got 
very angry with Him. So these wicked men took 
Jesus to the top of a mountain, and would have 
thrown Him down, but Our Lord, passing through 
the midst of them, went away. 

At Jerusalem also, instead of listening to Jesus 
and believing in Him, the priests and the chief Jews 
were very angry with Him. You see, they thought 
if the people listened to Jesus, and followed Him, 
they would no longer obey their priests; so, like 
Herod, they determined to kill Our Lord, lest He 
should become the King of the Jews. Soon the 
Jews and their rulers became still more angry with 
Jesus and His followers. 

King Herod had seized St. John the Baptist and 
put him to death, and the Jews sought for Jesus 
to kill Him, too; but Our Saviour knew that the 
time had not yet come for Him to die, so He went 
away to another city called Capharnaum. 



36 The Apostles, 

When He was passing by the sea of Galilee, Jesus 
saw Peter and Andrew, the two fishermen who had 
first believed in Him. They were casting their nets 
into the sea, but Jesus said to them: 

" Come after Me, and I will make you fishers of 
men." 

And leaving their nets, and their home, and their 
business, they followed Jesus to poverty and death. 

Then two other fishermen, James and John, the 
sons of Zebedee, joined Our Lord also. , 

Do you remember how I told you that the apos- 
tles were the twelve heads of the disciples, and how 
they took the place of the bishops we have now? 

The twelve apostles were Peter, and Andrew his 
brother, James the son of Zebedee, and John his 
brother, Thomas, Matthew the publican, James and 
Thaddeus, Simon the Chananean, and Judas Is- 
cariot, Philip, and Bartholomew. 

When Judas had betrayed Our Lord, and killed 
himself, another apostle was chosen, so that there 
should still be twelve. This was Matthias. 

When Jesus and His apostles came to Caphar- 
naum, they began to preach to the people. Once, 
when Our Lord was in the synagogue, there was a 
man who was possessed by an evil spirit. And Jesus 
spoke to this evil spirit, and commanded it to go 
out of the man, and immediately the spirit obeyed. 

The people in the Temple were very much sur- 
prised to see the power of Our Lord even over devils, 
and they believed that He was God. 

After this Jesus worked many miracles. The 
mother of St. Peter's wife was very ill of a fever, 
so Our Lord went to her, and, taking her hand, He 



The Apostles. 37 

commanded the fever to go out of her, and imme- 
diately she was quite well. When they heard of 
this, all the people who were ill or in trouble came 
to Our Lord, and He made them well; and those 
who were in the power of the devil He delivered, 
so that many of them came to love Him very much, 
and to believe in Him. 



CHAPTEE VI. 

THE SERMON" ON THE MOUNT— THE BEATITUDES. 

Now, after a time, so many people came to see 
Jesus and hear Him preach, that it became difficult 
to find a place where they could all see Him. One 
day, when a great crowd had come together, Jesus 
went a little way up the side of a mountain, so that 
all might see Him. Then, when His disciples had 
clustered round Him, our blessed Lord explained 
to them in what way a Christian should live in this 
world, so as to deserve to go to heaven. 

First of all, He gave them eight rules by which 
they should live. 

These eight rules we call the eight Beatitudes. 

The first is : 

" Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the 
kingdom of heaven." 

By this Our Lord means that men must not wish 
to be rich, but to be good; heaven will belong only 
to the poor of spirit. That does not mean that 
only poor people can go to heaven, as rich people 
can be just as humble and poor in spirit, if they 
remember that their money was given to them so 
that they might do good to those around them, and 
not to spend only on their own pleasures. Our 

38 



The Sermon on the Mount. 39 

spirit may be poor and humble, even if our body is 
very rich. 

The second great rule is this : 

" Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the 
land." 

Even kings and great people can be meek and 
humble if they remember that it was God who gave 
them their riches and power, and that He can take 
them away as soon as He pleases. 

When people come to die, they are all equal, all 
as poor and miserable as one another. The king is 
no better off than the little beggar-child, but even 
worse off, if he has not made a good use of his 
power during his life. 

The next rule is a very beautiful and comforting 
one. 

When Our Lord said, " Blessed are they that 
mourn, for they shall be comforted," He promised 
us that, even if we suffer many troubles and much 
sorrow in this world, it will, if we are good and 
patient, all be made up to us when our life upon 
the earth is over, and we reach heaven, where " Our 
Lord shall wipe away our tears, and mourning and 
sorrow shall be no more." 

It is very hard for us to understand, but we know, 
for God has told us, that it is far better for us to 
suffer in this world than to be always happy and 
well; because, you see, we must do penance for our 
sins, either in this world or the next, so that it is 
better for us to have to bear trouble and pain dur- 
ing our short life than to burn for a very long time 
in purgatory after our death. 

The fourth Beatitude is : 



40 The Sermon on the Mount. 

" Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after 
justice, for they shall have their fill." 

It is not enough simply to believe in God, and 
lead a life which is not really sinful; we must also 
be anxious (hungry) for God's honor and glory. It 
is not even enough for us to do our best ourselves; 
we must work just as hard to help others to be 
good. 

Every one can do that. Priests help others by 
preaching and giving the sacraments; fathers and 
mothers, by bringing up their children to love and 
serve God; even little children can help. 

Of course they cannot preach or teach, but they 
can help by trying to give a good example to their 
little brothers and sisters and friends, and by pray- 
ing very hard for those who are doing God's 
work. 

The fifth rule which our blessed Lord gave us was 
this: 

" Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain 
mercy." 

Sometimes, if some one has been unkind to us, 
we feel very angry, and should be pleased to see 
that person suffer. Some little children will run 
and tell their mamma or nurse if their little broth- 
ers and sisters have done something naughty, and 
be quite glad to see them punished. 

Some little children, not many I am sure, take 
pleasure in hurting poor dumb animals, such as 
dogs and cats, and even mice and spiders and 
flies. 

It is very, very sad to see such children. How 
grieved their guardian angel, and all who love them. 



The Serinon on the Mount. 41 

must be! For a child who is cruel to animals will 
be cruel to other children, and very likely grow up 
a cruel and cowardly man or woman. 

We must remember that Jesus loves us all, and 
died for us all; so if we really love Him, the best 
way to show it is to love and be good to all His 
creatures, animals as well as people. 

Little children can do a great deal of good by 
simply being kind. If people are unkind to you, 
do not try to get them punished, but be very kind 
to them, and soon they will love you, and be very 
sorry that they hurt you. 

Remember that our blessed Lord was kind to 
those who killed Llim, and prayed for them, even 
while He was dying on the cross, so you can easily 
bear a little pain or trouble without complaining. 

Then, if you see some one doing anything wrong, 
do not run quickly to tell tales of them, but rather 
persuade them to be good. We are not to act 
" policeman " to one another, but to help one an- 
other as much as we can. 

In some ways it is even more naughty and cow- 
ardly to be cruel to animals than to be cruel to 
people. The poor animals cannot defend them- 
selves; they are not able to speak or complain if 
they are hurt. Besides, they do not mean to do 
any harm. If they break anything, or do some mis- 
chief, it is because they do not know any better. 

We must remember that animals can feel pain 
just as much as we do, and they are very miserable 
if those about them are unkind to them. 

They have only a few years to live, so that we 
ought to make their short life happy. If men and 



42 The Sermon on the Mount. 

women and children are miserable in this life, they 
know that one day they may be happy in heaven; 
but animals know nothing of God or heaven. 

The sixth Beatitude is this : 

" Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see 
Oxod." 

How can we keep our hearts pure and clean? By 
not letting any stain of sin be on them. We should 
never give our blessed Lord the sorrow of seeing on 
our soul the mark of an' untruth, or of a mean or 
cruel action, for every sin that we commit leaves a 
mark or stain on our soul, which remains there until 
the priest takes it away by the absolution he gives 
us in the Sacrament of Penance. 

We must also keep our body very clean and neat if 
we want to show respect to Our Lord, and never say 
or do anything which we should be ashamed for our 
guardian angel to hear or see. Perhaps the most 
beautiful of all the Beatitudes is the seventh: 

" Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be 
called the children of God." 

It is not enough not to do harm to others; we 
must not be angry with them, or quarrel with them, 
but we must love them, and try to help them. 

If we have had a quarrel with them, we must not 
" let the sun go down upon our wrath " — that is to 
say, we must never go to bed without first forgiving 
those who have offended us. We must never go to 
church without first trying to make friends with 
those we have been quarrelling with, for God will 
not listen to our prayers if we are not at peace with 
all His creatures. 

Even this is not enough. If we see other people 



The Sermon on the Mount. 43 

quarrelling, we must do our best to make them 
friends again. " Blessed are the peacemakers." 

Of course we must not preach, or think we are 
better than others; but we must try quietly to put 
things straight between those who are quarrelling, 
and in any case we can ask God to help them. 

The eighth Beatitude is : 

" Blessed are they that suffer persecution for jus- 
tice's sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." 

Long ago there were wicked kings and rulers who 
put to death all who were Christians — that is to 
say, all who believed in Christ. Very many holy 
martyrs gave up their lives for their faith, and 
among them were quite little children. 

In these days no one will hurt us for being Chris- 
tians, so, as we have not any great sufferings to 
offer to Our Lord, we must offer Him all our little 
pains and troubles, and beg Him to give us courage 
and strength to be faithful to Him all our lives. 

We must try and remember always these eight 
rules Our Lord gave to His disciples, for if we fol- 
low them we shall soon learn to be faithful children 
of God. 

That same day that Jesus gave His disciples the 
eight Beatitudes He also taught them how to pray. 
He told them how God is always ready to listen to 
us and help us if we only ask Him. 

There is no need for grand words or long prayers, 
for God knows what we need better than we do our- 
selves. The very best prayer of all is the Lord's 
Prayer, or " Our Father," which Jesus Himself 
taught to His disciples. 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD — THE TRANSFIGURA- 
TION. 

Now I think you would like to hear about some of 
the miracles, or wonderful things, which Our Lord 
did upon this earth. Three times He raised dead 
people to life and gave them back to the world. 

You have already heard about St. Peter's wife's 
mother whom Our Lord cured, and about the son of 
the ruler to whom Jesus said, " Go, thy son liveth." 

Then there was a man sick of a dreadful illness 
called the palsy. 

He could not walk, so four kind men carried him 
in his bed and laid him down before Jesus. 

Our Lord was very sorry for the poor man, and 
said to him, " Thy sins are forgiven thee ; take up 
thy bed and walk." 

Immediately the sick man, who had not been able 
even to stand for many years, got up and walked, 
carrying his bed with him. In those days, and in 
that hot country, people had not heavy iron or 
wooden beds, with lots of blankets and coverings, as 
they have now; they had only a light string mat- 
tress on a wooden frame, with perhaps a cover to 
put over them, so that it was quite easy to carry 

44 



The Miracles of Our Lord. 45 

one's bed, but everybody was much surprised to see 
that the man who had been so ill was able to walk 
about. 

There was another very dreadful illness called 
leprosy. The people who had this illness were sent 
away from their homes, and obliged to live out in 
the desert, with no one to take care of them or love 
them; for scarcely any one can get better from 
leprosy, and people can get the illness by simply 
touching a leper. 

Xow, when these poor sick people heard about 
Jesus, and the many kind and wonderful things He 
did, they began to hope that perhaps He would help 
them too, so many of them came to Our Lord and 
begged Him to have pity on them. 

Instead of driving them away, Our Saviour laid 
His hand on them, and immediately they were made 
well, and went back happy and grateful to their 
homes. 

Many blind men were brought to Jesus, and He 
made them to see, and many deaf and dumb people, 
and He made them to hear and speak; in fact, all 
sorts of poor sick people came to Our Lord, and He 
never refused to help them. 

When He went through towns, the people living 
in them would bring out all the sick, and the blind, 
and the cripples, and lay them in the road through 
which Jesus was to pass, so that His shadow might 
fall upon them, and they might be made well. 

In those days sometimes, especially when people 
had -been very wicked, God allowed the devil to take 
possession of them and rule over them. But Jesus 
was sorry for these poor people, and by His power 



46 The Miracles of Our Lord. 

He cast out the devils, and forbade them to go back 
into the people. 

Besides bringing dead people back to life, and 
curing the sick, and casting out devils, Jesus did 
many other wonderful things. 

You remember how He changed water into wine 
at the marriage-feast at Cana. Another time a 
great number of people, more than five thousand, 
had followed Jesus a long way to hear Him speak. 

They were very tired and hungry, so the disciples 
said to Our Lord: 

"What shall we do to feed all these people?" 

Then Jesus answered, saying, " How many loaves 
have we ? " They told Him, " Only five loaves and 
two little fishes. What are they among so many ? " 

Then our blessed Lord commanded the people to 
sit down on the grass. He blessed the loaves, and 
ordered His disciples to distribute them among the 
poor hungry men and women. 

When they had all had as much to eat as they 
wanted, there were still twelve basketfuls left over, 
for Christ had multiplied the loaves and fishes — 
that is to say, He had made them into a great many 
more. Was not that a wonderful thing? 

Another time, when again a great many people 
were listening to Our Lord, there were only a few 
loaves and two or three little fishes, but Jesus would 
not let the people be hungry, so He blessed the 
loaves and fishes, and all the disciples were fed. 

Jesus was always very sorry to see people sad or 
disappointed. Twice He came upon some poor 
fishermen, who had been working all night without 
finding any fish. Our Lord told them to cast their 



The Miracles of Our Lord. 47 

nets once more, and when they obeyed Him, they 
found a very great number of fishes in their 
net. 

Once Jesus was in a ship with His disciples when 
a terrible storm arose. Our blessed Lord was asleep, 
but His disciples quickly woke Him up, and begged 
Him to save them or they would be drowned. 

Rising up, Jesus said to the storm, " Peace, be 
still;" and immediately there was a great calm. 

Another time, when the disciples were sailing on 
the sea, they saw Jesus coming towards them, walk- 
ing on the water. First of all they were very 
frightened, but Jesus spoke to them, saying: 

" Be not afraid, it is I." 

Then St. Peter said : 

" Lord, if it be Thou, order me to come to Thee." 

When Jesus answered, " Come," St. Peter began 
to walk over the waves to Our Lord, but soon he 
grew afraid, and thought he would sink and be 
drowned; but Jesus quickly came to him, and, tak- 
ing him by the hand, led him safely to the ship. 

Once some people came to Our Lord to ask Him 
for some money. As Jesus had none, He said to 
St. Peter : 

" Go to the sea, and cast in a hook ; the fish which 
shall first come up take, and when thou hast opened 
its mouth, thou shalt find in it a piece of money." 

When the fish was caught, the piece of money was 
found in ^ts mouth as Jesus had said. 

Sometimes Our Lord worked a miracle so as to 
give a lesson to His disciples. One day, while He 
was travelling with them, He passed a fig-tree, on 
which were leaves, but no fruit. Jesus said: 



48 The Transfiguration. 

" There shall never again be any fruit on that 
tree;" and immediately the tree withered and died. 

The disciples did not understand why Our Lord 
had done this, but He explained that the barren fig- 
tree was a symbol or picture of a man whose life 
is barren or empty of prayer and good works. God 
gives us a great many chances to bear fruit — that 
is to say, to be good and do His will; but, after 
a time, if we continue naughty, He no longer gives 
so much help and grace, and then our soul may 
easily commit a mortal sin and lose heaven. 

Once Jesus went with three of His apostles, Peter, 
James, and John, up a mountain to pray. As they 
watched Him they saw a very wonderful thing hap- 
pen. The face of Jesus was shining like the sun; 
His garments became white as snow; two holy 
prophets were speaking with Him. As the apostles 
gazed, they heard the voice of God from the sky, 
saying : 

" This is My beloved Son, hear ye Him." 

They were very much afraid, and fell on their 
faces. But Jesus came to them, and touched them, 
saying : " Arise, and fear not." And when they 
looked up there was no one but Jesus. This was 
called Our Lord's transfiguration. 

Many other wonderful things did Jesus do, and 
many beautiful things He taught His disciples, till 
at last it came nearly to the time when He was to 
give up His life for men. Three years did Our 
Lord give to teaching men, so that after His death 
they would know how to live, so as to deserve to go 
to heaven. 



CHAPTEE VIII. 

PALM SUNDAY— THE LAST SUPPER— -CHRIST^ 
AGONY IN THE GARDEN — THE PASSION. 

After Our Lord had been preaching and working 
miracles for nearly three years, it was again time 
for the Pasch, or Passover; so Jesus and His apos- 
tles returned towards Jerusalem, so as to be there 
for the Paschal feast. 

The chief men among the Jews hated Jesus, be- 
cause they were afraid that one day He would be- 
come King of the Jews, and they wanted to kill 
Him, but they had to be very careful, for they knew 
that the poor people loved Jesus, and would protect 
Him if they could. 

Now Judas, who was one of the twelve apostles, 
was a greedy, covetous man, who loved money. He 
was angry with Jesus because He was so generous, 
and gave all His money to the poor. So this wicked 
apostle went to the high priests, and said to them: 

" How much money will you give me if I deliver 
Jesus of Nazareth up to you ? " 

And they answered him : 

" Thirty pieces of silver." So, from this time 
forth Judas looked for a chance to deliver his Mas- 
ter up to His enemies. 

49 



50 Palm Sunday. 

On the Sunday before Holy Week Jesus and His 
disciples left Bethania, where they had been staying, 
to go to Jerusalem. Jesus was riding on an ass 
upon which His disciples had spread their cloaks. 
Many other people were travelling along the same 
road, and when they saw Jesus, who had done so 
many and wonderful things, they were very pleased. 

They took off their cloaks and colored scarfs, 
and laid them on the ground for Him to ride over. 
Many pulled down branches of palms and other 
trees, and strewed them in His path. Some carried 
palms, which they waved in front of Him, singing 
u Hosanna ! " which means " Glory to God ! " 

It is in remembrance of that day of rejoicing that 
we keep Palm Sunday, the first day of Holy Week. 

That evening Jesus returned to Bethania; for, 
though the people loved Our Lord, they were too 
much afraid of the high priests to let Him stay in 
their houses. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday 
Jesus slept at Bethania, going in every day to Jeru- 
salem to preach. 

On Thursday morning He said to two of His 
apostles : 

" As you go into the city, you will meet a man 
carrying a pitcher of water; follow him into the 
house to which he goes, and say to the master of 
the house, i The Master saith to thee, where is the 
guest-chamber, where I may eat the Pasch with My 
disciples ? ? And he will show you into a large 
dining-room, ready furnished, and there you will 
prepare the Pasch." 

It all happened as Jesus said, and the two apos- 
tles began to make ready the Paschal supper. Per- 



The Last Supper. 51 

haps you wonder what the Paschal supper was, and 
how it was prepared. I will tell you. 

In memory of a time when God had delivered the 
Jews from the power of their enemies, the Egyp- 
tians, they had on the anniversary of that day a 
great feast. 

At this feast they ate the flesh of a lamb roasted 
whole, with unleavened bread, a sort of flat cake 
baked in the ashes, and bitter herbs. What they 
did not eat they burnt in the Are. 

When the feast was ready, Jesus and His twelve 
apostles came and took it, lying or couched on sofas 
round the table. 

As soon as supper was ready, Our Lord rose, and, 
taking some water in a basin, began to wash the feet 
of His apostles. At first they were ashamed that 
He, who was their Master, should show them so 
much honor; but Jesus told them that He was do- 
ing this to show them that a Christian should be 
humble, and always ready to serve others. 

Then Jesus lay down again at the table, and, dur- 
ing the supper, He took some of the unleavened 
bread, and blessed it, and broke it, and gave it to 
His apostles, saying: 

" Take ye and eat, for this is My body." 

Then, taking the chalice filled with wine, He gave 
thanks, saying: 

" Drink ye all of this ; this is My blocd." 

For Jesus knew that He would soon die, and go 
away from the earth ; so, by His power, He changed 
bread and wine into His own sacred body and blood, 
so that, even after His death, He would always be 
with us. 



52 The Last Supper. 

Every time a priest says Mass, he, by the power 
of God, consecrates the bread and wine — that is to 
say, changes them into the body and blood of Jesus. 

Our Lord knew that the time had nearly come for 
Judas to betray Him, so He looked sorrowfully 
around on His apostles, saying: 

" One of you shall betray Me." 

At these sad words the apostles were very much 
grieved; for they all, except Judas, loved Our Lord 
very dearly, and they thought they would sooner 
die than betray Him. 

They all asked anxiously, " Is it I, Lord? " Then 
Jesus answered: 

" It is he to whom I shall give a piece of bread ;" 
and leaning forward, He broke off a piece of bread 
and gave it to Judas. 

You would think that Judas would be dreadfully 
ashamed and sorry for causing so much sorrow to 
his kind Master ; but he had listened so long to the 
devil that his heart had grown hard, and all he 
thought of was the money he was to receive. So 
he got up and went away to try how he could best 
manage to betray his Master. 

Perhaps Judas did not know how wicked a thing 
it was which he was doing. Perhaps he thought 
that Jesus would deliver Himself from His enemies, 
as He had sometimes done before. We will hope so. 

After a time Jesus and the other apostles rose 
from the table, and went to a garden called Geth- 
semani. Jesus knew that this was the place in 
which He was to be betrayed, so He said to His 
apostles : 

" Rest here, while I go yonder and pray." 



Christ's Agony in the Garden. 53 

Then calling Peter and James and John, the 
three who had been with Him at His transfigura- 
tion, a little way from the others, He said to them: 

" My soul is exceeedingly sorrowful ; stay here 
and watch near Me." 

Then Jesus went a little further away, and began 
to pray to God. 

" Father ! if Thou be willing, remove this cup of 
sorrow from Me; but not My will but Thine be 
done." 

For, though Jesus was God, He was man too, and 
as man He was afraid of the dreadful pain and 
cruel death He was to suffer. Yet though He was 
afraid, He was still willing to die for men, if it was 
God's will. 

What a beautiful lesson this gives us ! 

If pain and sorrow come to us, we must bear them 
patiently, because they are God's will. If we feel 
sad or afraid, never mind; Jesus felt sorrow and 
fear too, just as we do, and so we must just follow 
His example, and say to God : " Not my will, but 
Thine be done." 

After Jesus had prayed for a little while, He re- 
turned to His disciples, but instead of watching 
with Him they were all asleep ; so Jesus went back 
and prayed again to God, and His fear and sorrow 
grew so great that He would have died, but that 
God sent His angel to comfort and strengthen Him, 
just as He sends us help when we need it. 

Then Jesus returned once more to His disciples 
and woke them, saying: 

" The time has come ; he who is to betray Me 
is near;" and immediately there was a noise of 



54 The Passion. 

shouting and the trampling of many feet, and a 
crowd of soldiers, with priests and servants, came 
hurrying into the garden, armed with swords and 
sticks, to seize Jesus. 

It was almost dark, and the soldiers were carry- 
ing torches. Many of them had never seen Jesus, 
so they said to Judas: 

" How shall we know which is thy Master ? " 

Then Judas answered them: 

" The Man whom I shall kiss is Jesus of Naza- 
reth ; hold Him fast." 

Then this wicked, cruel man came up to his Mas- 
ter, who had always been so kind to him, and kissed 
Him, saying: 

" Hail, Rabbi ! " which word means " Master." 
Jesus said to him : 

" Friend, why hast thou come ? Dost thou be- 
tray Me with a kiss ? " 

Then turning to the high priests and soldiers, He 
said to them: 

" Whom do you seek ? " 

And they said: 

" Jesus of Nazareth." 

And Jesus answered: 

" I am He." 

At these words they all fell to the ground, struck 
with fear. None of them could have touched Jesus. 
But He said to them: 

" If it is I whom you seek, suffer My disciples to 
go their way." 

For even at that moment, when His cruel Passion 
was beginning, Jesus thought of others, and wished 
to save them. . 



The Passion. 55 

St. Peter was so angry and grieved to see that 
the soldiers were going to seize his Master, that he 
drew his sword, and struck one of them, cutting off 
his ear. 

But Jesus loves all men, even those who wished 
to kill Him; so, stretching out His hand, He healed 
the wounded man. 

Then all the disciples fled away, and Jesus al- 
lowed the soldiers to seize and bind Him. 

First of all they led Him to the house of Annas, 
who was one of the high priests; but Annas told 
them to take Him to Caiphas, who was the high 
priest for the year. All the way along the soldiers 
treated Jesus most cruelly, striking Him, and doing 
all they could to make Him suffer. 

Caiphas and the other priests tried very hard to 
find something against Jesus for which they could 
punish Him; but they found nothing, for Jesus 
had never said or done anything wrong, so they 
brought false witnesses, who were paid to pretend 
that Our Lord had said wicked things. But the 
witnesses did not agree, and everybody could see 
that they were not speaking the truth. 

All this time Jesus was silent ; He did not defend 
Himself, but just bore patiently all the blows and 
insults He received. 

At last Caiphas said to Him : 

" I adjure (that is, order) Thee by the living God 
to tell me if Thou art indeed Christ, the Son of 
God." And Jesus answered that He was indeed 
Christ. 

Then Caiphas said: 

" What need have we of witnesses ? We have all 



56 The Passion. 

heard Him say that He is God, and therefore we 
know that He is worthy of death." 

And they all began again to strike Jesus, and to 
spit in His face, and insult Him. 

All this time Peter had been waiting in the court 
outside the house of Caiphas. A servant-maid went 
to him, saying: 

" Thou also wert with Jesus ;" but Peter was 
afraid, and denied his Master. 

Then another servant, seeing him, said: 

" This man also was with Jesus of Nazareth." 

And again in his fear Peter denied Jesus, saying : 

" I know not the Man." 

Later on there came by a friend of the man whose 
ear Peter Ijad cut off, and he said to him: 

" Did I not see thee in the garden with Jesus of 
Nazareth?" 

And again Peter said : 

" I know not the Man of whom thou speakest." 

While he was speaking the cock crew, and Peter 
remembered the words of Jesus : " Before the cock 
crow T thou wilt deny Me thrice." 

And going out, he wept bitterly. 

As it was still night, the soldiers shut Jesus up 
in a prison till it should be morning. As soon as 
it was day (Good Friday morning), the elders of 
the people and the high priests gathered together, 
and they said again to Jesus : 

" If Thou be Christ, tell us." 

And He answered them: 

" T am." 

And rising up they led Him to Pilate, who was 
the chief judge, to be condemned. 



The Passion, 57 

Kow when Judas saw that Jesus was really taken 
and was to be killed, he grew very sorry and 
ashamed at what he had done. 

He took the thirty pieces of silver back to the 
high priest, saying: 

u I have betrayed innocent blood." 

But they answered him: 

" What is that to us ? Look thou to it." 

So then, in despair, Judas went out; and, in- 
stead of going to Jesus to ask Him for His forgive 
ness, and to die with Him, Judas went out and 
hanged himself. 



CHAPTEE IX. 
the passion" of Christ. (Continued.) 

Pilate was not a Jew, but a Roman. The 
Romans had seized Jerusalem and were masters of 
it, so that the Jews could not put Jesus to death 
without the permission of the Roman governor; 
therefore they led Jesus to Pilate, saying: 

" We have found this Man who says He is King 
of the Jews." 

Then they went on accusing Jesus. 

Pilate said to Jesus : 

" If Thou art King of the Jews, why have Thy 
people delivered Thee up to me ? " 

But Jesus answered him, saying: 

■" My kingdom is not of this world ; for this was 
I born into the world, to give testimony to the 
truth." 

Now if Pilate had been a good man, he would 
have asked Our Lord to teach him the truth, and 
he would have become a Christian; but instead of 
doing this, he went back to the Jews and said to 
them: 

" I find that this Man has done no wrong. ?> 

58 



The Passion of Christ. 59 

The Jews were very angry at this, and Pilate 
grew frightened; so, instead of delivering Jesus, 
he sent Him to Herod; for Jesus was a Galilean, 
and Herod was the chief judge of the Galileans. 

Herod was pleased to see Jesus, for he had heard 
strange things about Him; so he asked Our Lord 
a great many questions. But Jesus would not an- 
swer him at all, for Herod was a very wicked man; 
so, being angry, Herod mocked Jesus, pretending 
that He was a fool; and, after his soldiers had 
clothed Him in a white garment, Herod sent Jesus 
back to Pilate to be judged. 

Pilate did not know what to do. He did not 
want to kill Jesus, for he knew Him to be innocent ; 
but He was afraid to let Him go. So he thought 
of a plan by which he might set Our Lord free. 

Upon that day the governor was accustomed to 
set free some prisoner, as an act of mercy. 

There was a very wicked murderer, whose name 
was Barabbas, in prison at that time. Pilate said 
to the people: 

" Whom shall I set free ? Jesus of Nazareth, or 
Barabbas?" 

For he thought that the people would be sure to 
choose Jesus, who had been so good to them. 

But the elders and the high priests persuaded the 
Jews to choose Barabbas. 

Then Pilate said : 

" What must I do to Jesus, who is called Christ ? " 

And they answered : 

" Crucify Him ! Crucify Him ! " 

But Pilate's wife, who was a good woman, sent a 
message to him, saying, " Have nothing to do with 



60 The Passion of Christ. 

this just Man." So then Pilate tried again if he 
could not save Jesus. 

"What evil has this Man done?" he said. "1 
iind no sin in Him; I will therefore chastise Him, 
and let Him go." 

But they cried again with loud voices: 

" Crucify Him ! Crucify Him ! " 

Then Pilate, being afraid, ordered Jesus to be 
scourged — that is, beaten, as though Our Lord were 
a robber or murderer instead of Christ, the Saviour 
of men. All through this dreadful scourging Jesus 
never complained, but only prayed for these who 
were hurting Him so cruelly. 

After they had scourged Jesus the soldiers led 
Him to the court of Pilate's palace; then they 
stripped Him, and put a purple cloak around Him; 
for in those days kings always wore purple. Then 
they made a crown of long, sharp thorns, and placed 
it on His head, and in His hand they put a reed for 
a sceptre. 

Then, bowing the knee before Him, they mocked 
Him, saying: 
• " Hail, King of the Jews ! " 

And these cruel men spat upon Jesus, and struck 
Him on the head with the reed. 

After this Pilate came again to the people, and 
showed them Jesus wearing His crown of thorns. 

" Behold the Man ! " he said. " I have found no 
sin in Him; He has done no wrong." 

But still they cried out, " Crucify Him ! " 

Pilate said to Jesus, " Why dost Thou not speak 
to me? Knowest Thou not that I have power to 
crucify Thee or to release Thee ? " 



The Passion of Christ. 61 

But Jesus answered him: 

",Thou wouldst not have that power if it had 
not been given to thee from Heaven." 

Pilate had not the courage to displease the Jews, 
so he set free Barabbas, the murderer and robber, 
and gave Jesus up to the Jews to be crucified. 

Now that the Jews had Jesus in their power, they 
did all they could to make Him suffer. 

They forced Him to carry the great heavy cross 
to which He was to be nailed, though the road to 
Calvary was long and hilly, and Our Lord was very 
weak after His cruel scourging. 

Three times Jesus fell under the weight of His 
cross, and each time they drove Him on with kicks 
and blows. 

At last He grew so weak that they feared He 
would die, so they forced a man named Simon the 
Cyrenean, who was passing by, to help Our Lord 
to carry His cross. 

At first Simon perhaps did not like it, but when 
he saw how patiently Jesus bore His sufferings his 
heart was touched, and he did all he could to help 
Our Lord. You will be glad to hear that Simon 
afterwards became a Christian and a saint, and that 
his two sons were martyred for Christ's sake. 

As Jesus was passing, carrying His cross, many 
of those who had known and loved Him came out 
and wept and lamented to see Him in so sad a 
state. His holy Mother came too with some of the 
disciples, and she followed her divine Son, so as to 
be near Him until His death. 

When Christ had reached the Mount of Calvary, 
the executioners — that is to say, those who were 



62 The Passion of Christ. 

about to kill Him — told Him to lay His cross down 
on. the ground. They offered Him wine mixed with 
a bitter stuff called myrrh, but Jesus would not 
drink. This wine was given to criminals — that is, 
wicked people — before they were killed, so as to 
deaden their pain, but Jesus preferred to suffer, so 
as to make still more atonement for our sins. 

Then the executioners again stripped Jesus, and 
nailed Him by His sacred hands and feet to the 
cross. Above Him they nailed a board, on which 
was written, " Jesus of Nazareth, King of the 
Jews." 

On each side of Our Lord they crucified a robber, 
for they wished to make it appear that Jesus was 
being punished with other wicked people because 
He was wicked Himself. 

All this time Jesus never complained, but only 
prayed for His enemies, saying: 

" Father, forgive them, they know not what they 
do." 

Then the soldiers took Our Lord's clothes and 
divided them among themselves, each taking a part, 
and for His coat they cast lots. 

The people who were looking on mocked Jesus 
and reproached Him. One of the two thieves joined 
with them in mocking Jesus, but the other, seeing 
the patience and goodness of Our Lord, was touched, 
as Simon the Cyrenean had been. He said to his 
companion : 

" We are rightly punished, but this Man has done 
no wrong." Then, turning to Jesus, he said humbly, 
u Lord, remember me when Thou comest to Thy 
kingdom." 



The Passion of Christ. 63 

Jesus is always ready to hear us when we ask 
Him for help. In spite of His own terrible suffer- 
ing, He comforted the repentant thief, saying : 

" This day thou shalt be with Me in paradise." 

Our blessed Lady was standing at the foot of the 
cross ; her loving heart felt all the pain her divine Son 
was suffering, and she, who would willingly have died 
to save Him a moment's sorrow or pain, was obliged 
to stand watching Him hanging in His agony upon 
the cross. Still, she did not complain or murmur, 
but stood quite close to Him, trying to comfort Him 
by her presence. St. John the apostle was with her, 
mourning for her grief and for the suffering of his 
divine Master. 

Then Jesus looked down upon His Mother, and 
spoke to her, saying, " Behold thy son ! " and to St. 
John He said: "Behold thy Mother!" for He 
wanted St. John to take care of Our Lady, and 
He wanted to remind Our Lady that we are her 
children, and she must love us and pray for us, even 
though we are wicked and ungrateful. 

For three hours Jesus hung upon His cross, and 
a darkness like that of night was over the world. 
Then Jesus cried out: 

"My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken 
Me?" 

Perhaps Our Lord said these words so that when 
we are frightened or in pain we may remember that 
Our Saviour, too, suffered and was frightened, and 
all to save U3. 

Then Jesus said: 

"I thirst." 

Jesus was really very thirsty, but He also meant 



64 The Passion of Christ. 

that He was thirsty to do good to men, and to save 
them from the power of the devil. 

When Our Lord said these words a soldier took 
up a sponge, filled it with vinegar, and, putting it 
on to a reed, he offered it to Jesus in mockery. But 
Our Lord was willing to receive even this last in- 
sult. 

When He had drunk the vinegar He said, " It is 
consummated." 

Consummated means finisTied. Jesus had finished 
His work, He had suffered dreadful pain and misery 
to save men, and now His task was over. 
Bowing down His sacred head, He said: 
" Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit/' 
That is to say, "Father, I have done Thy will, 
do Thou now receive My soul." 



CHAPTER X. 

THE BURIAL OF JESUS — HIS RESURRECTION — HE 
APPEARS TO THE DISCIPLES. 

At the moment of Christ's death many wonderful 
things happened to prove to men that He whom they 
had crucified was their God and their Saviour. 

The earth shook, the rocks were rent or burst 
open, and the bodies of many who were buried arose- 
and walked about the earth, showing themselves to- 
their friends. 

A great tear or split showed itself in the veil of 
the Temple. This veil was a large curtain which 
hung in the Temple, separating the people from the 
" Holy of holies," or inner and more sacred part, 
which could only be entered by priests. This veil 
was split, and fell away, to show that the Temple 
had been defiled — that means, soiled — when the 
Jews crucified their Messias; also, that the veil or 
division between God and man had been removed 
now that God the Son had died for mankind. 

The Jews began to be terribly afraid; they were 
almost sorry for what they had done, and many said 
to themselves : 

" Jesus of Xazareth must surely have been the 
Son of God as He said." 

65 



66 The Burial of Jesus. 

All these things happened, as you know, on Good 
Friday. It was at three o'clock that Jesus died. 

Now, the Jews always keep their Sabbath, or 
holyday, on Saturday, and it is not lawful for 
them to do any work on that day; so the soldiers 
came to see if the crucified men were dead, in order 
that their bodies might be removed before night 
fell, for the Jews count their Sabbath from Friday 
evening till sunset on Saturday. The two thieves 
were still alive, for they had only been tied to their 
crosses, instead of being nailed to them as Jesus 
had been. The soldiers, therefore, killed the two 
men by breaking their legs, but when they found 
that Jesus was already dead they did not break 
His, but a soldier who was near drove his spear into 
His side, piercing His divine Heart, and there came 
out blood and water. Then they left the body of 
Our Lord hanging on the cross. 

There was a certain rich man, Joseph of Arima- 
thea, who loved Jesus and was one of His disciples. 
This man went secretly to Pilate, telling him that 
Jesus was dead, and begging to be allowed to take 
down the body of Christ, that he might bury it, 
and to this Pilate gave his consent. 

When evening came, Joseph and some other dis- 
ciples came to the foot of the cross, where Our Lady 
and St. John were still; and they took down the 
body of Jesus, bound it in linen, with spices, as was 
the custom of the Jews, and laid it in a new sepul- 
chre, or grave, which was in a garden near Calvary. 

When the chief priests heard what had been done, 
they were very angry, and they went to Pilate, say- 
ing: 



The Burial of Jesus. 67 

" We have remembered that Jesus of Nazareth, 
while He was yet alive, said, i After three days I 
shall arise again from the dead.' Perhaps His fol- 
lowers will steal Him away, and pretend to the peo- 
ple that He has risen." 

But Pilate answered them: 

" You have a guard ; go and guard the sepulchre 
yourselves." 

So the chief priests set a stone before the sepul- 
chre, and sealed it, and placed a guard of soldiers 
round the tomb, to prevent any one from going near 
it. 

The soldiers waited and watched, and allowed no 
one to come near the sepulchre; but behold, in the 
very early morning of Easter Sunday, there was a 
great earthquake, the angel of the Lord descended 
from heaven, rolled back the stone which was before 
the tomb, and sat upon it. His face shone as the 
lightning, and his garments as snow. The guards 
were struck with terror, and became as dead men. 

After a time they went to the high priests, and 
told them what had happened. 

The high priests and the elders met together, and 
called the soldiers before them, and promised them 
a great deal of money if they would pretend to 
everybody that they had been asleep, and that dur- 
ing their sleep the disciples had stolen the body of 
Our Lord away. 

This the soldiers did, so that many of the Jews 
did not hear of the resurrection of Jesus. 

When morning came, Mary Magdalen and some 
other holy women went to the sepulchre, taking with 
them sweet spices, and they said to one another : 



68 The Resurrection. 

" Who will roll back the stone from the door of 
the tomb ? " for they knew that it was too heavy for 
them to move. 

But when they drew near, they saw that the stone 
had been rolled away, and entering into the tomb 
they found that the body of Christ was not there. 

And as they gazed on the empty grave, they saw 
two angels standing there. Being very much afraid, 
they bowed down their heads, but the angels said: 

" Why do you search for the living among the 
dead? Christ is not here. He has risen." 

Then the women remembered the words of Christ, 
u After three days I shall rise again " ; and going 
from the sepulchre they told these things to the 
apostles and disciples. Some of these could scarcely 
believe this strange story, and St. Peter and an- 
other disciple ran quickly to the tomb and saw that 
the body of Our Lord was not there. 

Mary Magdalen remained weeping outside the 
sepulchre, and as she wept she looked into the tomb, 
and saw two angels sitting there, one at the head, 
and the other at the foot of the place where the 
body of Christ had been laid. 

They said to her : " Woman, why weepest thou ? " 
But she answered them : " Because they have taken 
away the body of my Lord, and I know not where 
they have laid Him." 

When she had said these words, she looked round 
and saw Jesus standing behind her; but at first 
she did not know Him. Thinking He was the gar- 
dener, she said : 

" Sir, if thou hast taken the body of my Lord 
away, tell me where thou hast laid Him." 



The Resurrection. 69 

Jesus said to her : " Mary ! " 

Then she knew Him, and, kneeling, she held out 
her arms, saying : " Master ! " but Jesus said to 
her: 

" Do not touch Me, for I am not yet ascended to 
My Father in heaven; go to My disciples, saying: 
* I ascend to My Father and your Father, to My 
God and your God ;' " and this Mary did. 

Jesus, we are told, appeared first of all to Mary 
Magdalen, though she had been a very wicked 
woman, to show us that, if we are sorry for our 
sins, and do penance for them, as Mary Magdalen 
did, they are forgiven, and that God loves us again, 
as though we had never sinned. 

But we may believe that even before this He had 
been to visit His blessed Mother. 

The next time that Jesus appeared after His 
resurrection was to the holy women who had come 
to visit the sepulchre. At first they were afraid, 
but Our Lord said to them: 

" Fear not : go, tell My brethren to go to Galilee, 
and there they shall see Me." 

After this Jesus showed Himself to St. Peter, but 
we do not know what passed between them. 

On that same day two disciples were walking to- 
gether to a place called Emmaus, and as they went 
on their way they were talking about the strange 
things that had happened, and grieving for the 
death of their beloved Master. They were very sad, 
for they said to themselves : 

" How can Jesus have been really the Son of God 
as He said? for He has died, just as other men 
die." 



70 Jesus Appears to the Disciples. 

Suddenly Jesus came up to them, though they 
did not know Him. 

And Our Lord spoke to them, and explained many 
things to them, telling them that it had always been 
foretold that the Messias would die to save man- 
kind, but that on the third day He would rise 
again. 

When they reached the town, Jesus made as 
though He would leave them, but they begged Him 
to go with them to their heuse to rest and eat. 

When they were at supper, Jesus took some bread 
and blessed it, then, breaking it, He gave it to them, 
and immediately their eyes were opened, and they 
knew Him. But Jesus vanished from their sight. 

Then the two disciples rose quickly, and returned 
at once to Jerusalem, to tell the apostles what they 
had seen. 

But the apostles answered them, saying : " He is 
indeed risen, and has appeared also to Peter." 

That same day all the disciples had gathered to- 
gether. The door of the room in which they were 
assembled was locked, for they knew that the Jews 
were seeking the followers of Christ, that they 
might kill them. Suddenly Christ stood among 
them, and they were afraid, for they took Him for 
a spirit, but He spoke to them, saying : 

"Why are you afraid? Do you not see that it 
is I?" 

Then He showed them His hands and feet, with 
the marks of the cruel nails which had pierced them. 

When the disciples saw that it was indeed their 
Master, they were very pleased, and welcomed Him. 

Then Jesus said to them: 



Jesus Appears to the Disciples. 71 

" Peace be with you ! " and He breathed upon 
them, saying: 

" Receive you the Holy Ghost ; whosesoever sins 
you shall forgive, they are forgiven." 

At that moment and by those words, Our Lord 
made the Sacrament of Penance, by which priests 
have the power of forgiving sins. 

Even after Jesus had spoken to them, some of the 
disciples could hardly believe that it was their Mas- 
ter Himself, and not His spirit, who was with them ; 
so Jesus, in order to prove it to them, took some of 
the fish and honeycomb which they offered to Him, 
and ate, so that all could see that His actual body 
was present. 

^Now one of the apostles whose name was Thomas 
was not with the others when Jesus appeared to 
them; he would not believe what they told him 
about the coming of Our Lord, saying: 

" Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, 
and put my finger in the place of the nails, and put 
my hand into His side, I will not believe." 

After eight days the apostles were again together,, 
and this time Thomas was with them. And once 
again Jesus stood among them. He said to Thomas : 

" Put thy finger hither, and see My hands, and 
bring hither thy hand, and put it in My side, and 
be not faithless, but believing." 

Then Thomas was bitterly ashamed, and cried 
out : " My Lord and my God ; " but Jesus answered 
him: 

" Blessed are they that have not seen, and have 
believed." 



CHAPTER XL 

OUR LORD'S WORDS TO ST. PETER AND THE DIS- 
CIPLES — HIS ASCENSION". 

Do you remember how Jesus told the holy women 
to say to the disciples that they should go to Galilee, 
and that there they should see Him? 

Well, as soon as they were able, they went to Gali- 
lee, as Our Lord had commanded. There He ap- 
peared to nearly five hundred of them. Another 
time some of His apostles were near the sea of 
Tiberias, and they began to fish. 

All night they worked, but could catch nothing. 
But when morning came, Jesus stood on the shore, 
though at first they did not know Him. He said to 
them: 

" Children, have you any food ? " which meant 
"Have you caught anything?" but they answered, 
" No." 

Then Jesus said: 

" Cast your net on the right side of the ship, and 
you shall find." 

They cast their net as they had been told, and 
when they wished to draw it back, they were not 
able to do so, .on account of the great number of 
fish in it. Then St. John, the beloved disciple, said 
to St. Peter : 

72 



Our Lord's Words to St. Peter and the Disciples. 73 

"It must be the Lord;" and immediately St. 
Peter put his cloak around him, and cast himself 
into the sea to go to Jesus; but the other disciples 
came in the ship, dragging the net filled with fishes, 
and though there were so many the net was not 
broken. 

When they had reached the shore, tired and hun- 
gry, they found that Jesus had lighted a fire, and 
prepared fish and bread for them to eat. 

Then Our Lord, in presence of the other apostles, 
said to St. Peter: 

"Peter, lovest thou Me?" 

St. Peter answered quickly: 

" Yea, Lord, Thou knowest that I love Thee ; " 
and Jesus commanded him, saying: 

" Feed My lambs." 

Twice Our Lord put the same question, and each 
time He said to St. Peter: 

" Feed My lambs " ; but the third time He said, 
"Feed My sheep "—that is to say, "Be My shep- 
herd over My sheep " — for Jesus meant St. Peter 
to be the head or shepherd of His flock, and He 
wished His disciples to understand that no man 
ought to rule over people unless he loves them and 
is good to them. 

Jesus often speaks of the Church as His flock, 
and Himself as the Good Shepherd, to show that 
He loves and takes care of every one of His chil- 
dren, just as a good shepherd guards and shelters 
every sheep and lamb under his charge. 

It was to save us that Jesus gave up His life 
upon the cross, so that we might be happy for all 
eternity, and He did this because He loves us. He 



74 Our Lord's Words to St. Peter and the Disciples. 

wants us all to love one another; the rich must 
love the poor; the mighty must take care of the 
weak and humble; big children must be good to 
little ones, and do all they can to help them. Even 
tiny children can be kind to animals, and be useful 
to those about them. 

One way in which they can be very useful is 
by not giving more trouble than they can help. 
They must not always want to be amused when peo- 
ple are busy about them* they must not cry or 
whine when they do not get everything they want; 
they must not snatch away one another's toys, or 
quarrel, or tell tales. Then they would be a real 
help in the nursery, and they would be obeying Our 
Lord's orders, " Love one another." 

If only the people of the world could always re- 
member those three little words, they would be very 
happy themselves, and would make those about 
them happy, besides pleasing God, and deserving 
heaven. 

When Our Lord said to St. Peter, "Feed My 
sheep," He told him that when his work was over 
he should die a cruel death as his Master had done, 
for God's sake, and thus wipe out the shame of hav- 
ing denied his Saviour. 

After many years of hard work, spent in preach- 
ing and converting people, St. Peter was seized by 
God's enemies. As he would not give up his faith, 
they determined to crucify him as Jesus had been 
crucified. But St. Peter did not feel worthy to die 
the same death as his Master, so he begged his 
executioners to crucify him head downwards. 

Though St. Peter had sinned, he was very sorry 



Our Lord's Words to St. Peter and the Disciples. 75 

for his sins, and tried to atone, or make up for it. 
Then Jesus loved him, and even made him head 
of the Church; so you see it is never too late to 
begin again, and to try to be good and do God's 
work. 

Once more Jesus appeared to the eleven apostles 
in Galilee, and He said to them: 

" All power is given Me in heaven and on earth : 
going, therefore, teach ye all nations, baptizing 
them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, 
and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe 
all things which I have told you. And behold, I 
am with you all days, even unto the consummation 
of the world. He that believeth, and is baptized, 
shall be saved; but he that believeth not, shall be 
condemned. And these signs shall follow them that 
believe : In My name they shall cast out devils ; they 
shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up 
serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall 
not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, 
and they shall recover." 

Many children will not be able to understand 
these words which Our Lord spoke to His disciples; 
but they are very important words, and I will try 
to make you all understand them, so that when you 
see them in other books you will know what they 
mean. 

" All power is given Me in heaven and on earth." 

Jesus, as God, had full power both in heaven and 
on earth; but even as man He had full power in 
heaven and on earth, for this power was given to 
Him by God. 

" Going, therefore, teach ye all nations, baptizing 



76 Our Lord's Worlds to St. Peter and the Disciples. 

them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, 
and of the Holy Ghost." 

The apostles were ordered to spread themselves 
over the whole world; all nations were to be taught 
about God ; Jesus died for all men, not only for the 
Jews. 

So the apostles dispersed themselves. St. Peter 
went to Antioch and Rome, St. James travelled to 
Spain, St. Bartholomew to India, St. Matthew to 
Ethiopia, St. John preached in Asia. All the apos- 
tles went to different places, " baptizing people in 
the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
Holy Ghost." 

Our Lord had already made the Sacrament of 
Baptism, but by these words He told His apostles 
that every Christian must be baptized in the name 
of the Holy Trinity, that is to say, in the name of 
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. 

" Teaching them to observe all things which I 
have told you." 

It is not enough to believe in God, we must ob- 
serve — that is, obey — Him in all things. All the 
commandments and rules which Our Lord gave us 
when He was upon earth must be observed ; so Jesus 
told His apostles to teach all men what they must 
do, and all the rules they must obey. 

" And behold, I am with you all days, even to the 
consummation of the world." 

Consummation means finishing or ending. Our 
Lord is with us, and always will be with us, as long 
as the world lasts. He is in the tabernacle, waiting 
to listen to your prayers, and when you are old 
enough to go to holy communion you will receive 



Our Lord's Words to St. Peter and the Disciples. 77 

His sacred body and blood as the food of your 
soul. 

" He that believeth in Me, and is baptized, shall 
be saved; but he that believeth not shall be con- 
demned." 

If we believe in God, and are baptized, we shall 
go to heaven, if we also love and obey God. 

But those who have heard of the gospel of Christ > 
and will not believe in Him, who might be baptized, 
but do not choose to, will be condemned to ever- 
lasting punishment, for God is just as well as mer- 
ciful. 

" And these signs shall follow them that believe : 
In My name they shall cast out devils; speak with 
new tongues. They shall take up serpents, and if 
they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them; 
they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall re- 
cover." 

After Christ's death there were only a very few 
Christians; most of the disciples were only poor 
ignorant men; still God made use of these humble 
men to build up His great Church. He gave them 
wonderful power, so that they might do His work. 

You remember how He told them to teach all na- 
tions. Well, they did not know how to talk any' 
language except their own, but God, when He sent 
them to other countries, gave them power to speak 
the languages of those countries, so that, wherever 
they went, people could understand them. 

As they travelled about, they were exposed to 
many dangers ; but God protected them till the hour 
had come for them to die. Snakes did not hurt 
them, poisonous things did not do them any harm. 



78 Our Lord's Words to St. Peter and the Disciples. 

Over and over again God sent His angels to protect 
them when cruel men would have hurt them. 

Besides this, God gave them the power to work 
miracles, to cast out devils, and heal sick people, 
because these miracles or wonderful things which 
they did convinced or showed the truth to the peo- 
ple, and made them ready to listen to what they were 
told about God and the Church, and in this way 
many were converted and- became Christians. 

If God chose, priests could still do that kind of 
miracle, just as every day they do a miracle by 
changing the bread and wine into the body and 
blood of Our Lord. Many wonderful cures are still 
worked by the Sacrament of Extreme Unction, and 
at holy places, such as Lourdes, or St. Winifride's 
Well. Many saints have had the gift of performing 
miracles, but, as a rule, God in these days works 
wonders to our souls instead of to our bodies. He 
brings souls from death to life, from sickness to 
health, by the Sacrament of Penance. By contri- 
tion and the absolution which the priest gives us, 
we are freed from the power of the devil, to become 
God's children. 

ISTow I hope that you will understand the words 
which Our Lord spoke to His disciples. 

Many times still did Jesus appear upon earth, to 
teach Llis followers how they must live, and what 
He wished them to do. At last came the fortieth 
day, on which it was foretold that Jesus would 
ascend into heaven. 

Our Lord led His disciples to Bethania, and then, 
standing among them, He lifted up His hands to 
bless them; and as they gazed upon Him they be- 



The Ascension. 79 

held Him ascending — that is, mounting — towards 
heaven. Soon a cloud hid Him from their sight, 
but still they stayed, looking up to the blue sky 
after the kind Master who had left them. 

Then, looking round, they saw two strangers 
standing by them in white garments, and these men 
— who were in reality angels — said to them: 

" Men of Galilee, why stand ye looking up to 
heaven ? This Jesus who is taken up from you into 
heaven shall come back in the same way as you have 
seen Him going into heaven." 

When the day of judgment comes, when all men, 
living or dead, will be judged, Our Lord will come 
down from heaven, no longer as our protector and 
Saviour, but as a just Judge, who knows all our 
hidden faults. 

We must therefore try to live in such a way that 
we need not be afraid to meet our Judge on that 
last dreadful day. 

When Our Lord went up to heaven, He took with 
Him the souls of all those people who had lived 
good lives, and had deserved eternal happiness, and 
had no debt of sin, but who had not been able to 
enter heaven because Christ had not, by His death, 
opened the gates of paradise for them. 

These souls had been waiting in a place of rest 
called limbo, and it is of that place that we speak 
in the Creed when we say, " He descended into hell ; 
the third day He rose again from the dead." 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE ELECTION OF ST. MATTHIAS — THE DESCENT 
OF THE HOLY GHOST. 

Soon after the ascension of Jesus into heaven, 
when the apostles were assembled together, they 
chose a twelfth apostle, in place of Judas, the be- 
trayer of Our Lord; and their choice fell upon St, 
Matthias, so that he became an apostle. 

After nine days of prayer and preparation, the 
apostles were assembled in one room with our 
blessed Lady. 

And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as 
of a mighty wind, and it filled the whole room in 
which they were sitting. And there appeared to 
them parted tongues as it were of fire, which de- 
scended on each of their heads, and they were all 
filled with the Holy Ghost, and they began to speak 
in divers tongues, according as the Holy Ghost 
gave them to speak. 

Thus the apostles and Our Lady were confirmed; 
that is to say, they received the Holy Ghost under 
the appearance of a tongue of fire. When we are 
confirmed we receive the Holy Ghost, though God 
does not wish us to see Him as the apostles were 
able to do. We are not given the power of speak- 
ing divers, or different, languages, because it is not 
necessary for God's glory that we should do so. If 

80 



Descent of the Holy Ghost. 81 

it were, God would give us that power, as He gave 
it to His apostles. 

The Holy Ghost brings with Him seven gifts: 

"Wisdom," "understanding," "counsel," "forti- 
tude " — which means strength — " knowledge " — that 
is, knowledge of holy things — " piety " — the love of 
holy things — and " the fear of the Lord." 

There are twelve great " fruits " or acts of virtue 
which we should always produce in our lives, after 
the coming of the Holy Ghost. These are: 

"Charity," "joy," "peace," "patience," "be- 
nignity " — which means kindness — " goodness," 
" longanimity " — that is, not getting tired of show- 
ing kindness — " mildness," " faith," " modesty," 
" continency " — or self-restraint — and " chastity " 
which means purity. 

There are six sins which especially offend the 
Holy Ghost. These are : 

" Presumption " — that is to say, making sure of 
what God has not promised. " Despair " — which 
means giving up the hope of God's mercy. 

" Resisting the known truth " — that is, refusing 
to believe the words of God. 

" Envy of another's spiritual good " — which 
means being jealous because another person is 
holier than we are. 

" Obstinacy in sin " and " final impenitence " — 
that is to say, when people go on to the very end 
of their lives without being sorry for their sins. 

Xow that the Holy Ghost had come down on the 
apostles, they were filled with wisdom, knowledge, 
and fortitude. They were no longer afraid to own 
themselves Christians, and the disciples of Jesus, 



82 Descent of the Holy Ghost. 

as they had been before. They went boldly about, 
preaching and working miracles, quite ready, when 
the time had come, to give up their lives for their 
faith. 

We are not called upon to be martyrs, as the apos- 
tles were, but we can be brave, faithful soldiers of 
Christ, ready and willing to do His work, whatever 
it may be. 

In order to do God's will, we must first under- 
stand what virtues we must practise and what sins 
we must avoid. 

The chief or " theological " virtues are so called 
because they directly relate to God, and " Theos " 
is the Greek name for God. They are: 

" Faith," " hope," and " charity." 

We must believe in God, hope in His mercy, and 
love Him and all His creatures. 

Then there are the four " cardinal " virtues. 
" Cardo " is the Latin word for a hinge, and the 
virtues are called cardinal because all the other vir- 
tues turn or hinge upon them. They are: 

" Prudence," " justice," " fortitude " — which word 
means strength and patience — and " temperance " 
— which word means to be careful not to take too 
much of anything which gives us pleasure, such as 
eating, drinking, and enjoying ourselves. 

There are fourteen ways in which we can do good 
to our neighbors. These are divided into two kinds, 
" corporal " works of mercy, and " spiritual " works 
of mercy. " Corpus " is the Latin word for th$ body, 
so the corporal works of mercy are the kind things 
which we do for our neighbor's body. They are: 

" To feed the hungry," " to give drink to the 



Descent of the Holy Ghost. 83 

thirsty," " to clothe the naked," " to harbor the har- 
borless " — which means to give shelter to those who 
have no home — " to visit the sick," " to visit the 
imprisoned," and " to bury the dead." 

" Spiritus " is the Latin word for spirit, or soul, 
so that the spiritual works of mercy are those kind 
things that we do to help our neighbor's soul. They 
are: 

" To convert the sinner," " to instruct the ig- 
norant," "to counsel the doubtful," "to comfort the 
sorrowful," " to bear wrongs patiently," " to forgive 
injuries," and "to pray for the living and the dead." 

Little children cannot very well practise the first 
three of these acts, for they do not know enough 
themselves to be able to instruct or advise other 
people; but it is easy for them to comfort the sor- 
rowful, and if they bear their troubles patiently, 
and forgive all those that have hurt them in any 
way, they will be doing spiritual acts of mercy. 
Then we are all bound to pray for those around us, 
our parents, friends, masters, superiors, and ene- 
mies, and for the dead — that is to say, the souls in 
purgatory. 

There are seven capital or principal sins which 
we must avoid, and seven virtues which are exactly 
contrary to them, and which we must try to prac- 
tise. They are: "Pride," to which the contrary 
virtue is " humility." " Covetousness," which is 
another word for wanting other people's things, and 
which we must try to conquer by practising "lib- 
erality," or generosity — that is, giving away one's 
things. " Lust," of which the opposite is " chas- 
tity." " Anger," which we must conquer by " meek- 



84 Descent of the Holy Ghost. 

ness." " Gluttony," or greediness, which is over- 
come by " temperance." " Envy," which means 
hating to see other people better off, of which the 
contrary is " brotherly love " ; and " sloth,' 7 or lazi- 
ness, which we must fight by using " diligence." 

There are three special good works which please 
Our Lord very much; they are prayer, fasting, and 
almsdeeds. Little children can pray; they cannot 
fast, which means going without most of our food, 
for they must eat what is given to them, and it 
would be disobedience if they did not ; but they can 
fast in one way, that is, by sometimes going with- 
out sweets or cake, or some nice little thing like 
that. 

Almsgiving means giving to the poor. Many 
little children have no money, so they cannot give 
it away, but they can give away little acts of kind- 
ness or love, or they can sometimes give some toy 
or sweets to a little friend who has none. Some 
children have money given to them to spend on 
their own pleasure, so they can spare a few pennies 
every now and then to some poor person. 

Besides actually committing a sin ourselves, ther? 
are nine ways in which we can share, or take part 
in, the sins of other people. They are, "by coun- 
sel " — that is, advising people to do a wrong thing ; 
" command," telling them they must do it ; " con- 
sent," agreeing to let them do it; "provocation," 
acting in such a way as to provoke people to commit 
a sin ; " praise or flattery," " concealment," hiding 
the wrong that another person has done ; " being n 
partner in the sin " — that is, getting some good or 
profit out of the sin ; " silence " — that is, not speak- 



Descent of the Holy Ghost. 85 

ing of the sin so that it may be prevented — and by 
" defending the wrong done." 

Therefore you see that when only one child in 
the nursery has committed some sin, perhaps all the 
others are guilty of the sin, too, if they have known 
of it, helped in it, laughed at it, or even hidden it. 

Of course this does not mean that children must 
be always interfering with one another, and telling 
tales of one another — that would be very bad. They 
must have sense to know when a thing is really wrong 
or dangerous, and then, if the child who is doing 
the wrong thing will not stop, the eldest of the chil- 
dren must go quickly and speak to mamma or nurse, 
and tell her what is going on. 

There are four great things which we must al- 
ways remember : " death," that we must all die 
some day; "judgment," that after our death we 
shall be judged according to the life we have led; 
" hell," to which we shall go if we die in mortal 
sin; and "heaven," which we all hope to gain 
through the merits of Jesus Christ. 

Last of all, we must remember the two greatest 
and most beautiful of all the rules which our blessed 
Lord gave us. 

The first is : " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God 
with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and 
with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength." 
And the second is : " Thou shalt love thy neighbor 
as thyself." 

We all love ourselves very much, and take great 
care of ourselves; so, if we love our neighbors as 
ourselves, we must love our neighbors, that is, those 
around us, very much, and take great care of them. 



CHAPTEE XIII. 

THE PARABLES. 

Very often Our Lord taught His disciples by 
means of parables. The word " parable " means a 
comparison. Sometimes if you go on a long time 
telling people to be good, to speak the truth, not to 
steal, not to quarrel, and things like that, they get 
tired of listening and go away. But if, instead, you 
tell them some story, showing how good it is to be 
truthful or honest, they are interested and listen 
to you, and then, through the story, they learn what 
you mean to teach them. 

That is what Our Lord did. He taught His dis- 
ciples by " parables " or stories. I am sure you 
would like to hear some of these parables, and try- 
to understand the lesson they teach. 
* 1. A sower went out to sow his seed, and as he 
scattered it, some fell by the wayside, and the 
birds came and ate it; some fell on the rock, where 
there was little earth, and soon it withered away; 
some fell among thorns, which quickly choked it; 
but some fell upon good ground, and it grew and 
flourished. 

This story means that the Word of God is useful 
only to those who make good use of it. Jesus 
spreads His Word as the sower his corn. Some peo- 

86 



The Parables. 87 

pie are like the dry ground ; they listen to sermons, 
or to good advice, but their minds are so taken up 
with earthly things that as soon as they leave the 
church they put it all out of their minds, and the 
grace of the Word is lost. 

Others are like the rocky ground: their minds 
are so hard by being selfish and self-indulgent, that 
when the Word comes to them they do not heed it, 
but give way to temptation, and God's Word is 
made fruitless. 

Others again receive the Word of God and act 
upon it, but, as they also love riches and money, 
after a time they grow weary of it. They try to 
serve two masters, and the thorns of covetousness 
soon choke their good resolutions. 

But some people are like the good ground: they 
are constantly working to preserve — that is, take 
care of — the grace they receive, so that it multiplies, 
and soon they become good and pious. 

2. A farmer sowed good seed in his field. But 
during the night an enemy came and sowed cockle 
— that is, a kind of weed — among the good corn. 
When the corn grew up, the cockle also grew with 
it. Now the servants of the farmer said to him: 

" How is it that there is cockle in your field ? Did 
you not sow good corn ? " 

But he answered them, saying: 

" An enemy hath done this." 

Then the servants asked: 

"Shall we not pull it up?" 

But the master replied: 

"ISTo, lest perhaps in pulling up the cockle you 
destroy also the good wheat. Let them both remain 



88 The Parables. 

■until the harvest, and then my reapers will first 
gather the cockle and burn it, but the wheat they 
will gather into my barn." 

By this parable Our Lord explains how it is that 
He allows wicked people to go on living in the 
world among the good ones. He lets them stay, for 
if every one were good there would be no more 
temptations, and temptations and trials are neces- 
sary to men; but when Death, the reaper, comes, 
the wicked people are cast into the flames of hell, 
and the good ones are gathered into heaven. 

3. The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mus- 
tard-seed, which, when it is sown, is the smallest 
of seeds ; but when it groweth up is greater than 
all herbs, and throws out great branches, so that the 
birds of the air may dwell in the branches thereof. 

This parable teaches us that, as the tiny mustard- 
seed grows into a great tree, so the Church, which 
began with a few poor fishermen, has spread over 
the whole world, and has numbered many millions 
of people. 

4. The kingdom of heaven is like to leaven 
(yeast), which a woman took and hid in three 
measures of meal (flour), until the whole wa9 
leavened. 

Leaven or yeast is used by cooks to make their 
bread rise properly. As a little leaven, when hid- 
den in the flour, is enough to leaven (raise) the 
whole of the flour, so the Church of Christ spreads 
the true faith among all who join her communion, 
that is, belong to her. 

5. If a man should cast seed into the ground, and 
should then go away and live his life, rising, eat- 



The Parables. 89 

ing, and sleeping, the seed would grow and ripen 
without his knowledge, for the earth of itself brings 
forth the flower and fruit, and when the harvest came 
the sower would put in his sickle and reap the corn. 
This parable means that God's Church grows and 
increases in a way we cannot understand. If we 
but do our part, God will do the rest. 

6. The kingdom of heaven is like to a treasure 
hidden in a field; which a man having found it, 
hid it, and, filled with joy, went and sold all he 
had and bought that 'field. 

7. The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant, 
seeking good pearls; who, when he had found one 
pearl of great price, went his way and sold all he 
had to buy it. 

Both these parables are meant to teach us that 
if only we once find God, we should be willing to 
throw away all things else so as to possess or hold 
Him more closely. 

8. The kingdom of heaven is like a net cast into 
the sea, when it is filled with fishes of all kinds. 
The fishermen draw it out, and sitting by the shore, 
choose out the good fish into vessels, but the bad 
ones they cast away. 

This parable, like the second, teaches us that, when 
the day of judgment comes, the good people shall be 
separated from the bad, the sheep from the goats. 

9. A certain man made a great supper and in- 
vited many. And he sent his servant at the hour of 
supper, to say to them that were invited that they 
should come, for now all things were ready. And 
they all began at once to make excuses. The first 
said to him: 



90 The Parables. 

" 1 have bought a farm, and I must needs go out 
and see it; I pray thee hold me excused." 

And another said: 

" I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to try 
them. I pray thee hold me excused." 

And another said : 

" I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot 
come." 

So the servant returning, told these things to his 
lord. 

Then the master of the house, being angry, said 
to his servant: 

" Go quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, 
and bring in the poor and the feeble, the blind and 
the lame." 

And the servant said: 

" Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and 
yet there is room." 

And the lord said to the servant: 

" Go out into the highways and hedges and com- 
pel (force) them to come in, that my house may 
be filled. But I say unto you that none of those 
men who were invited shall taste of my supper." 

Our Lord first came to make the Jews His dis- 
ciples, and He preached to them, and tried to make 
them Christians; but they would not give up their 
worldly pleasures and amusements to become the 
disciples of Jesus. They were afraid to face pov- 
erty, or perhaps death, for Him; so then Jesus 
turned to the Gentiles — that is, the people of other 
nations — and taught them instead, so that now the 
Jews are almost the only people who do not know 
and believe in Christ. 



The Parables. 91 

This teaches us that if we will not be good and 
holy when God invites us, through His Church, 
some day He may be angry, as the man who gave the 
supper was, and He will call others to take our 
place, and not have us for His friends any more. 

10. -A certain man had a fig-tree planted in his 
vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it, and 
found none. And he said to the keeper of the vine- 
yard: 

" For three years I come seeking fruit on this 
tree, and find none; cut it down, therefore, that it 
may not fill up the ground." 

But the keeper answered him, saying: 

" Lord, let it alone this year also, until I dig about 
it, and put manure about it. Then, if it bear fruit, 
it is well, but if not, after that, thou shalt cut it 
down." 

To us, too, like the fig-tree, many chances are 
given. Time after time Jesus comes to our soul, 
hoping to find there faith and good works; but, if 
we are not careful, the time will come when He 
will no longer allow us to remain in His Church; 
we shall be cut down, and lose our chance of 
heaven. 

11. What man of you that hath a hundred sheep, 
that will not, if he lose one of them, leave the 
ninety-nine and go after that which was lost, until 
he find it ? And when he hath found it doth he not 
lay it on his shoulders rejoicing, and, coming home, 
call together his neighbors and friends, saying to 
them: "Rejoice with me, because I have found my 
sheep that was lost " ? 

I say to you that there will be more joy in heaven 



■92 The Parables. 

upon one sinner that doth penance than on ninety- 
nine just that need not penance. 

12. Or what woman having ten groats (pieces of 
money) who, if she lose one groat, doth not light 
a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently 
until she find it; and when she hath found it call 
together her friends and neighbors, saying : " Re- 
joice with me, for I have found the groat which I 
had lost"? 

So I say to you: "There shall be joy before 
the angels of God upon one sinner doing penance." 

These two parables are very beautiful and com- 
forting. They show us that Jesus loves us, even 
when we are lost in sin. He seeks for us as the 
man sought for his sheep, and the woman for her 
groat; and when He has found us repentant, our 
Good Shepherd lifts us in His arms, and carries us 
with Him rejoicing. The angels themselves rejoice 
and are glad when some poor sinner repents and is 
saved. 

13. A certain man had two sons; the elder of 
them remained with him and worked with him, but 
the younger begged his father to give him what 
money belonged to him; and he went away to an- 
other country, and there he wasted his money and 
did no work. 

After a time there was a famine, and the younger 
son, who had spent all his money, was nearly starv- 
ing. He hired himself as servant to a man who 
set him to mind the pigs. But though the prodigal 
(wasteful) son would willingly have eaten the pigs' 
food, his master would not let him. 

Then the son returned to his father, and throwing 



The Parables. 93 

himself on his knees, he begged to be forgiven and 
taken on as one of the servants. But his father,, 
raising him, embraced him, and calling his servants, 
he bade them bring a robe for his repentant son, 
and a ring for his finger, and he charged them to 
prepare a feast. 

" Let us eat and be merry," he said ; " because 
this my son was dead, and is again alive; was lost 
and is found." 

Xow when the elder brother came home and found 
what had happened, he was not very pleased. But 
the father said to him: 

" My son, thou art always with me, and all that 
I have is thine ; but it is right that we should make 
merry, for thy brother was lost and is found." 

You see, this parable teaches us the same lesson 
as the last; Jesus loves us as much as though we 
had never offended Him, if only we will humbly 
confess our faults and promise to try to sin no more. 
There is no reason for good people to be jealous. 
God loves them and rewards them for their faithful- 
ness to Him, but He also loves and rejoices over 
the penitent sinner. 

14. The land of a certain rich man brought forth 
plenty of fruits. And he thought within himself, 
saying : " What shall I do, for I have not room 
enough to put my fruits? I will pull down my 
barns and build greater; and into them I will put 
all my goods. And then I will not work for many 
years ; I will rest, eat, drink, and be of good cheer." 

But God said to him : " Thou fool ! This night 
must thou die, and to whom shall all thy goods be- 
long?" 



94 The Parables. 

He is foolish who lays up treasure for himself, 
and is not generous to God. You see how foolish 
this rich man was. Instead of giving some of his 
fruits to the poor people around him, he treasured 
them all up for himself. W r > never know when we 
shall die, so that it is much better to be generous 
to God — that is to God's creatures — and not selfishly 
store up our treasures for ourselves. 

15. There was a judge in a certain city who 
feared not God, and had no pity for men. And a 
certain widow came to him saying : " Avenge me 
of (that is, punish) my enemy." At first he would 
not, but after a time, he did as she asked him — not 
out of pity for her, or for the love of God, but be- 
cause he was afraid she would weary him by asking 
too often. 

By this story we learn that we must go on ask- 
ing Jesus for what we want; we must weary Him 
with our prayers. Not that Jesus would ever really 
grow tired of hearing us, but because He loves us 
to persuade and beg Him, just as a father may 
sometimes refuse his child for a time, because he 
loves his child to persuade and coax him. 

16. The next parable is about a man who went 
to his friend at midnight, asking him for three 
loaves. At first the friend would not rise from his 
warm bed, but the man went on knocking and ask- 
ing till at last the friend got up, and gave him 
what he needed. 

In the same way must we go on asking Jesus for 
what we need. He has said : 

" Ask, and you shall receive ; seek, and you shall 
find; knock, and it shall be opened to you." 



The Parables. 95 

These words teach us not to be discouraged, even 
if Jesus does not seem to hear us at once. He has 
promised that if we keep on asking- He will listen 
to us at last, if what we ask is good for us. 

17. A certain man had two debtors — that is, peo- 
ple who owed him money.; the one owed him five 
hundred pence, and the other fifty. And, as neither 
of them had any money, he forgave them both the 
debt. Which, therefore, of the two should love him 
best ? Was it not the one to whom he forgave most ? 

This parable teaches us that the more sins we 
have committed, and the more often Jesus has for- 
given us, the greater must be our love and devotion 
to Him. 

18. A certain man had two sons, and coming to 
the first, he said : " Son, go work to-day in my vine- 
yard." And he, answering, said : " I will riot ;" but 
afterwards, being moved with repentance, he went. 
And coming to the other the father said the same 
thing to him. And he, answering, said : " I go, sir ;" 
but- he went not. Which of these two did the 
father's will? 

Does not this story show us how useless it is to 
pretend and promise that we are going to be good, 
and then not keep our promise? The son who was 
disobedient at first, but was sorry afterwards, and 
did as he was told, was far better than the one who 
deceived his father, saying, " I will go," when he 
did not intend to go. 

19. Two men went up into the Temple to pray; 
the one a Pharisee and the other a publican. A 
Pharisee was a man who led an outwardly good life, 
but many of these men often committed many secret 



96 The Parables. 

sins. A publican was a man who collected the taxes 
for the Eoman governors. They were often bad and 
cruel men, who oppressed the poor, and were much 
hated. The Pharisee, standing, prayed thus with 
himself : 

" O God, I give Thee thanks that I am not as 
the rest of men, or like this publican. I fast twice 
in the week; I give much in charity." 

But the publican, standing afar off, would not so 
much as lift his eyes towards heaven, but struck his 
breast, saying: 

" O God, be merciful to me a sinner." 

This man went back to his house, and his prayer 
was heard rather than that of the Pharisee. Be- 
cause he that exalteth (raiseth) himself shall be 
humbled, and he that humbleth himself shall be 
exalted.* 

What does this parable teach us ? It is very ( a . 
to see; we must never think ourselves better than 
any one else; we are all poor and miserable in the 
sight of God, and if we try to exalt ourselves — that 
is, try to make ourselves appear great — God will not 
listen to our prayers. We must be humble and 
lowly, as the publican was, and own ourselves sin- 
ners. The Pharisee boasted of his good works; if 
we do that, we lose all the good they would have 
done us. He thanked God that he was not as wicked 
as other people; perhaps his pride offended God 
more than the sins of the publican had done. 

20. There was a certain rich man who had a stew- 
ard (an upper servant who looks after the other 
servants), and he heard that this servant had wasted 
his goods. So he called him, and said: 



The Parables 97 

u What is this I hear of thee ? Give an account 
of thy stewardship, for thou canst be steward no 
longer." 

But the steward said to himself, " What shall I 
do, now that my lord taketh away from me my 
stewardship? To dig I am not able; to beg I am 
ashamed. I know what I will do, that, when I shall 
be removed from my stewardship, they will receive 
me into their houses." 

Therefore, calling together all those who owed his 
lord money, he said to the first : " How much dost 
thou owe my lord ? " and he said : " A hundred bar- 
rels of oil ; " and he said to him : " Take thy bill, 
sit down quickly, and write fifty." Then he said to 
another : " How much dost thou owe ? " and he said : 
" A hundred quarters of wheat ; " he said to him : 
" take thy bill and write eighty." 

But the Lord said that in one way the steward 
had done wisely. 

If we had only to live in this world, and there 
were no heaven or hell to come after it, it would be 
wise for us to do all we can to be rich and comfort- 
able in this world. The steward let those men off 
from paying part of what they owed, because he 
thought that, when he was turned out of his stew- 
ardship, they would help him, and take him into 
their houses out of gratitude. He forgot that, bv 
being dishonest to his lord, he was deserving pun- 
ishment in the next world. 

If we have money or power, we need not waste it ; 
we can use it in helping others. Even poor people 
and little children can help by praying, especially 
for the souls in purgatory, and then when we come 



98 The Parables. 

to die, and they are in heaven, they will help us by 
their prayers. By doing this we shall be laying up 
treasures, not for this world, but for the next. 

21. The kingdom of heaven is like to ten virgins, 
who, taking their lamps, went out to meet the bride- 
groom and bride. And five of them were foolish, 
and five were wise. The five foolish ones, having 
taken their lamps, did not take oil with them, but 
the wise ones took oil in their vessels for the lamps. 

As the bridegroom was iate, they all slept. And 
at midnight there was a cry, " Behold the bride- 
groom cometh, go ye forth to meet him." Then all 
the virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And 
the foolish ones said to the wise: 

" Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out." 

The wise ones answered, saying: 

" Perhaps there will not be enough for lis and 
for you; go you rather to them that sell oil, and 
buy for yourselves." 

Now, while they went to buy, the bridegroom 
came, and they that were ready went in with him 
to the marriage, and the door was shut. But at 
last came also the other virgins, saying: 

" Lord, open to us." 

But he, answering them, said : 

u I know you not." 

" Watch ye, therefore, for you know not the hour 
nor the day when the Lord cometh." 

We must try always to live such a life that, when 
the time comes for us to die, it will find us quite 
ready to appear before Jesus Christ, who wishes to 
be the Spouse, or Bridegroom, of our souls. When 
death comes it will be too late to begin to be good. 



The Parables. 99 

We may think our friends can help us then, but 
no one's prayers can gain heaven for us if we have 
not deserved it in time. Therefore let us begin at 
once to prepare our oil, that is to say, our faith, 
hope, and charity ; then, if a cry comes, " The 
Bridegroom, Jesus Christ, is at hand," we shall b3 
ready to meet Him, as were the five prudent virgins. 

22. A man was going into a far country. He 
called together his servants, and to one he gave five 
talents (large sums of money), and to another two 
talents, and to a third one talent, according to the 
cleverness of each one; and then he started on his 
journey. 

Now he who had received five talents traded with 
them; that is, bought things with them, and sold 
them at a higher price, and he gained another five 
talents. And he who had received two talents 
gained another two; but he who had received one 
talent hid it in the earth. 

When the master came back, he praised the first 
two servants, but he was angry with the third, who 
had been so lazy, and had not done anything with 
his talent; so he took it away and gave it to the 
man who had ten talents. 

This parable teaches us that we are bound to 
make use of whatever God gives us. 

If we are clever or rich, we must make use of 
our cleverness or riches to help ourselves and those 
around us. As we said before, it is not enough not 
to do harm ; we are obliged to do good, and if we do 
not use our talents God will be angry with us. 

23. There was a certain rich man, who was 
grandly dressed, and ate good things every day. 



100 The Parables. 

And there was a poor beggar named Lazarus, who 
lay at his gate, very sick, and so hungry that he 
would have liked to have eaten even the crumbs 
that fell from the rich man's table; but the rich 
man would not let him have them. 

The beggar died, and went to be with Abraham, 
waiting for heaven ; but the rich man died, and was 
carried down into hell. 

And looking up from where he was suffering, he 
saw afar off Lazarus, with' Abraham, a holy prophet. 
And he called out, begging that Lazarus should 
bring him some water, and just touch his tongue 
with it, for he was burning in the flames. . 

But Abraham said to him, that he must remem- 
ber that he had received all his good things on the 
earth, while Lazarus had been suffering. Then he told 
him that a great gulf, or empty space, lies between 
heaven and hell, and that no one can cross it. Then 
the rich man begged Abraham to send Lazarus to 
warn his five brothers, so that they might not come 
also to this place of torment. But Abraham said 
" ~No" because if they would not listen to the words 
of the prophets, they would not listen either to the 
voice of Lazarus if he rose from the dead. 

This parable shows us very clearly that, if we care 
only to amuse ourselves, and be happy in this world, 
and do not share our good things with those about 
us, God will make us suffer in the next world. 

No good thing is given to us for ourselves only; 
we are bound to share it with others. 

There is another lesson given us in this parable: 
that is, that if we do not listen to what the Church 
teaches us while we are able, the time will come 



The Parables. 101 

when, like the rich man, we shall be very sorry that 
we thought only of pleasure. 

24. The kingdom of heaven is like to a king, one 
of whose servants owed him a great deal of money; 
but he could not pay it. So the king ordered that 
he and his wife and children should be sold to pay 
the debt, for in those days servants belonged to their 
masters, and those who could not pay might be sold 
as slaves. But the servant entreated him to have 
mercy, saying: 

" Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all." 

So the king had pity on him, and forgave him 
the debt. 

But when this servant went out, he found a fel- 
low-servant who owed him a hundred pence. He 
seized him by the throat, saying : 

" Pay me what thou owest." 

The other servant fell upon his knees, saying: 

" Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all." 

And he would not, and cast him into prison, till 
the debt should be paid. 

When the king heard of this he was very angry. 
He said to his servant: 

" Shouldst thou not have had compassion on thy 
fellow-servant, as I had compassion on thee ? " 

Then he delivered him up to the torturers till the 
debt was paid. 

This parable teaches us that, if we expect Jesus 
to show mercy to us, and to forgive us our sins, we 
must show mercy to those around us, and forgive 
them when they have offended us. 

25. A householder went out early to hire laborers 
for his vineyard. He promised to pay them a penny 



102 The Parables. 

a day (much more than our pennies), and set them 
to work. Three hours later, at the third hour, he 
saw other laborers standing idle, and them also he 
set to work, promising to pay them what was just. 

And again he went out at the sixth and at the 
ninth hours, and did the same thing. But at the 
eleventh hour he went out, and found others stand- 
ing idle, because no one had hired them; and those 
also he sent into the vineyard. 

And when evening came, all the laborers were 
paid, each man a penny; but those who had come 
first grumbled because they had not received more 
than those who came last, though they had worked 
longer. But the lord said to each of them: 

"I do thee no wrong; did I not promise thee a 
penny? Take what is thine and go thy way." 

God's Church is like the vineyard. Some of us 
He calls into it from the moment we are born ; that 
is, of course, from the time we were baptized as 
tiny babies. Others become Christians when they 
are quite old, some even on their death-bed. 

You remember how the good thief repented when 
he was hanging on the cross beside Jesus. He had 
been a wicked man all his life, but still he was 
sorry, and received the baptism of desire, and so 
went straight to paradise. 

Perhaps some people might complain, as did the 
laborers, that some get more for their work than 
others; but this is not so. God gives us rewards 
for the love and earnestness with which we work, 
not only for the length of time we have been work- 
ing. 

26. There was a householder, who planted a vine- 



The Parables. 103 

yard, and put a hedge round about it, and dug in 
it a press, and built a tower; and then he let it 
out to husbandmen (farmers) and went into a far 
country. 

And when the time of the fruits was near, he sent 
his servants to the husbandmen, that they might 
receive the fruits. But the husbandmen, laying 
hands on the servants, beat one, and killed another, 
and stoned another. Again the lord sent other ser- 
vants, more than before, and they did to them in 
like manner. And last of all he sent his own son 
saying : 

" They will reverence (honor) my son." 

But the husbandmen, seeing the son, said among' 
themselves : 

" This is the heir ; come, let us kill him ; then 
we shall have his inheritance." 

And taking him, they cast him out of the vine- 
yard and killed him. 

When, therefore, the lord of the vineyard shall 
come, he shall bring these evil men to an evil end, 
and let out his vineyard to other husbandmen. 

When Jesus told this parable to the Jews they 
were very angry, for they knew what Our Lord 
meant by the story. 

God is the Master of the vineyard — that is, the 
Church — and He gave it to the Jews. But when 
the time came for them to give up the fruits, that 
is to say, to offer sacrifice and to do God's will, they 
would not. God sent His servants, the prophets, to 
warn them, but they put them to death. Again and 
again He sent holy prophets and holy people to 
them, and still they would not listen. At last God 



104 The Parables, 

sent His own Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and Him 
also they put to death. 

Then God was very angry. The Jews were His 
chosen people, and to them had been given His 
Church, but after they crucified Jesus they were no 
longer God's people, and the Church could no longer 
belong to them, but to the Gentiles, that is, people 
of other nations. 

We must try not to be like these wicked husband- 
men. To us, also, is giverf a vineyard — that is, the 
hope of heaven. God sends messengers — our con- 
science, the priests, those who are in charge of us — 
to warn us when we are doing wrong things. Let 
us listen to these messengers, and then God will not 
take away from us His vineyard. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE APOSTLES' CREED. 

A creed means an account, or declaration, of the 
things we believe. The word " creed " comes from 
the Latin word " Credo," " I believe." 

When the apostles were sent by Our Lord to teach 
the whole world the things which He had taught 
them, they put these things together in the simplest 
form, so that the people they converted might learn 
them easily. Since then other creeds have been 
made, when it became necessary to explain more 
fully different doctrines, or teachings, about which 
some question had arisen. So we have the Creed 
of St. Athanasius, the Nicene Creed, and the 
Creed of Pope Pius the Fourth, but the Apostles' 
Creed, of which we are going to speak now, is the 
one most generally used. 

The First Article, or division, of the Creed is : 
" I believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of 
heaven and earth." 

Our first duty is to know God, that we may love 
and serve Him; so we must try to understand all 
that we are told about Him. The Catechism says: 
" God is the supreme Spirit, who alone exists of 
Himself." " Supreme " means that which is the 
highest of all, above everything. 

105 



106 • The Apostles' Creed. 

In this world we see many kinds of insects and 
animals, all rising one above the other in intelligence 
or cleverness. Then come men; above them, in 
heaven, the angels, all in their different ranks, till, 
far above ns all, we see the great Creator, who made 
all creatures, and from whom they all have light 
and existence. 

It is difficult to understand what is meant by a 
spirit, because we cannot see or touch one. A spirit 
has no body. In a room -where there are three or 
four people there are three or four guardian angels, 
but we cannot see them because they have no body* 
God has no body. He is a spirit, and is everywhere* 
He fills the whole of heaven and the earth; there 
is no place where He is not, and from Him every- 
thing has life. 

God always was; there was never a time when 
there was no God. God always will be; there will 
never be a time when there will be no God. God 
can do anything He wills. He made everything, 
and there is nothing that does not do His will, ex- 
cept men and the bad angels or devils. 

When God made the earth, the sea, the trees, and 
plants, He did not give them any choice about serv- 
ing Him. The sun cannot choose whether it will 
shine or not; an apple-tree cannot choose whether 
it will bear fruit or not ; only to men and the angels 
did God give free will — that is, the power to choose 
whether they would serve Him or not. 

God gave them this power because it gives Him 
much more honor if we serve Him because we love 
Him, and want to please Him, than because we can- 
not help doing so. 



The Apostles' Creed. 107 

When we speak of God, we usually mean the one 
God in three Persons — God the Father, God the 
Son, and God the Holy Ghost ; and we must remem- 
ber that, though these three Persons are quite dis- 
tinct, they are not three Gods, but one God in three 
Persons. We cannot understand how there can be 
three persons in one; that all three can be equally 
great and equally powerful; that one is not older 
or wiser than another; but we believe it because 
God Himself has told us so. We call this God in 
three Persons the mystery of the Blessed Trinity — 
that is, three in one, because our small understand- 
ing cannot know how this can be. 

If a grown-up person were to try to explain to a 
tiny little baby that two and two make four, that 
little baby would not be able to understand; but 
still it would be quite true that two and two do 
make four. It is just the same with us. The 
things that God tells us are quite true, but we can- 
not understand them, for they are too great and 
difficult for us. 

God, the great God in three Persons, has no body. 
We know that He is a spirit, and everywhere; but 
He has no body of matter — nothing that we can 
see; therefore, when He resolved to save us, the 
Second Person of the Blessed Trinity became man, 
taking a body and soul like ours, and receiving at 
His circumcision the name of Jesus Christ, Jesus 
meaning " saviour " and Christ " anointed." 

The Second Article of the Creed which we have 
to believe is this: "And in Jesus Christ, His only 
Son, Our Lord." 

Jesus is truly God, because He is one God with 



108 The Apostles' Creed. 

the Father; and He is truly man, because He chose 
to take a human nature like ours, and to have a 
woman for His Mother. We must remember that 
He was always God from all eternity, but that He 
was man only from the time that He was born into 
this world. 

Our Lord's nature as God and His nature as man 
are quite distinct, but they form only one Person, 
the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. As God, 
Jesus is everywhere, but His human nature is not 
everywhere. It is in heaven, and in the Blessed 
Sacrament, where Our Lord wishes to be always 
with us. 

The Third Article of the Creed tells us that Our 
Lord was " conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the 
Virgin Mary." 

Our Lord was the Second Person of the Blessed 
Trinity, the Son of God; therefore He was truly 
God. He was truly man, because He was the Son 
of the Virgin Mary. If He had been God only, He 
could not have suffered for our sins. 

If He had been man only, His sufferings would 
have been of no use to us, as only God could make 
reparation to God for the insult our sins had been 
to Him. 

Though Jesus had no father on earth, St. Joseph, 
the husband of our blessed Lady, was His foster- 
father, appointed by God to take care of Him and 
work for Him. 

The Fourth Article of the Creed: "Suffered 
under Pontius Pilate, was crucified; died, and was 
buried," tells us in very few words the story of Our 
Lord's life. 



The Apostles' Creed. 109 

Pontius Pilate was the governor appointed to rule 
over the Jews by the Romans who had conquered the 
country. They were cruel people, and were often 
very severe with the Jews ; but they wanted to keep 
the country quiet, and if possible to please the Jew- 
ish people. 

You remember that, though Pontius Pilate knew 
that Our Lord was a good and holy Man, and wished 
to save Him, still he ordered Him to be crucified 
when the Jewish priests threatened to complain to 
the emperor at Rome. If, when Jesus was first 
brought before him, Pilate had been brave, and said 
that He was innocent, and must therefore be re- 
leased, the priests w T ould not have dared to say any 
more; but Pilate was cowardly, and gave up Jesus 
to be scourged and crucified. 

Besides the sins which we commit of our own ac- 
cord, there are so many times when we hurt and 
grieve Our Lord by our weakness and cowardice, 
letting ourselves be persuaded or frightened into do- 
ing that which we know to be wrong. 

The Creed tells us of the chief sufferings of Our 
Lord — His agony in the garden, His scourging at 
the pillar, crowning with thorns, carrying the cross, 
and His crucifixion and death between two thieves. 
We call these sufferings Our Lord's Passion, be- 
cause the word Passion comes from a Latin word 
which means suffering. It was on the day that we 
call Good Friday that Our Lord died to redeem us, 
or buy us back, at the price of His own blood; for 
which reason we call Llim Our Redeemer. 

It is in memory of Our Lord's death on the cross 
that all Catholics use the sign of the cross so often. 



110 The Apostles' Creed. 

You know that making the sign of the cross means 
making the mark of the cross upon ourselves by put- 
ting the right hand to the forehead and then to the 
breast, making the long part of the cross; then 
from the left shoulder to the right, making the arms 
of the cross. While we are doing this we say, " In 
the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
Holy Ghost. Amen." 

The shape of the cross reminds us how Our Lord 
died for us, and the words we say put us in mind 
of the three Persons of the Blessed Trinity. We 
like to make the sign of the cross very often, at 
the beginning and end of our prayers, before and 
after meals, when a temptation comes, when we are 
going to sleep, and at other times. 

As you have heard before, the high priests were 
very anxious to be sure that Jesus was dead, for they 
were afraid that Pontius Pilate might again change 
his mind, and release Him ; so they wanted to break 
the legs of Our Lord and of the two thieves, and to 
put their bodies into a deep pit, into which the 
bodies of criminals who had been executed were al- 
ways thrown. But when Our Lord was dead, Joseph 
of Arimathea and Nicodemus, two holy men who 
believed in Jesus, went to Pilate and begged that 
they might have the body of Our Lord; and when 
Pilate gave them leave to take it, they went to 
Mount Calvary, and took with them all the things 
that would be necessary to prepare the body of Our 
Lord for burial. 

When they got to Calvary, they took Jesus down 
from the cross most reverently, and wrapped Him 
in a large winding-sheet of linen, with many sweet- 



The Apostles' Creed. Ill 

smelling spices, and they laid Him in a new grave 
cut out in a great rock. 

This grave belonged to St. Joseph of Arimathea; 
lie had got it ready for himself, but he was very 
.glad to give it to his dear Lord. And when they 
had laid the body of Christ in it, they rolled a great 
stone in front of it, to shut up the opening. 

The Fifth Article of the Creed, " He descended 
into hell, the third day He rose again from the 
dead," tells us what happened in the few days im- 
mediately after Our Lord's death. 

As soon as Jesus was dead, His soul, followed by 
a great crowd of angels, went down to limbo, that 
place you have heard of, near to hell, where the 
souls of so many holy people were waiting so 
anxiously and so patiently for the Saviour who was 
to release them from their captivity. 

We who live now are saved because Our Lord died 
for us; these people who were in limbo were saved 
hecause Our Lord was going to die for them; but, 
until His death had paid the price of their sins, 
they had to remain in limbo. 

Limbo was a place of rest, where many of them 
had been waiting for thousands of years, always 
expecting the coming of Jesus, but they could not 
go up to heaven until He had opened it for them; 
for heaven had been closed to us by sin, and that 
sin could not be repaired till Jesus had atoned for 
it by His death. 

You may think of the crowd of holy souls, from 
the time of Adam and Eve, all the patriarchs and 
prophets, down to the time of the Holy Innocents, 
and St. Joseph, and St. John the Baptist, and the 



112 The Apostles' Creed. 

first saint after Our Lord's death, Dismas, the good 
thief, who followed his Master so quickly, and you 
can imagine how happy they all were to see and 
adore their Saviour. 

Very early in the morning of Easter Sunday the 
soul of Our Lord came back to the tomb where the 
angels had been watching over the sacred dead body, 
and, the soul entering into the body, Our Lord lived 
again, and left the tomb, passing through the rock 
above it, for He did not need the stone at the door 
to be rolled away. 

When Jesus rose again, Llis body was a glorious 
spiritual body, which could go anywhere, and pass 
through everything. We may be very sure that 
when He rose from the grave, His most blessed 
Mother was the first to see Him. 

The Sixth Article of the Creed is, " He ascended 
into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God 
the Father Almighty." 

Our Lord remained in the world for forty days 
after He rose from the dead. The first day, Easter 
Sunday, He spent in visiting and comforting His 
friends. He showed Himself to His apostles and 
disciples, and taught them many things. 

When the forty days were over, Jesus ascended — 
that is, went up — into heaven by His own power, 
taking with Him all the happy, glorious souls whom 
He had released from limbo. He opened for us again 
heaven, which our sins had closed, and there He 
has prepared a place for each one of us, if we keep 
ourselves from sin so as to be able to take it. 

When the Creed tells us that Our Lord sits on the 
right hand of God, that does not mean that God 



The Apostles' Creed. 113 

has a body and hands, for we know that He is a 
spirit, but it means that, as man, Jesus is in the 
highest place in heaven, being equal with the 
Father, of whom He is the eternal Son. 

The Seventh Article of the Creed is, "From thence 
He shall come to judge the living and the dead." 

The very moment that the soul leaves our body, 
and we are dead, we are judged. Perhaps our friends 
standing round hardly understand that we are really 
dead, when the judgment is pronounced. 

Our Lord is there, and the devil to accuse us, and 
our good angel to speak for us. It will be all over 
in a moment, for our every thought, word, and action 
has been written down. Jesus has seen every sin 
we have committed, He has even been obliged to 
allow us to commit sin, for w 7 e can do nothing with- 
out Him; so they will all be before us, and very 
quickly the sentence will be pronounced, w T hich de- 
cides forever whether the whole of our eternity is 
to be spent in heaven or in hell, for, even if we go 
to purgatory, that is like the beginning or ante- 
chamber to heaven. 

However much we may suffer in purgatory, the 
great question is decided in our favor. We know 
we are saved, and that, sooner or later, we must go 
to heaven to God. 

The first Judgment is between God and our soul 
only, but, at the end of the world, all the people 
that have ever lived will be assembled before God, 
with both their soul and body. Then He will say 
to the good: 

" Come, ye blessed of My Father ; possess the 
kingdom which is prepared for you." 



114 The Apostles' Creed. 

And He will say to the wicked: 

" Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting 
fire, which was prepared for the devil and his 
angels." 

This great last Judgment will be, as it were, be- 
tween God and the whole human race. We shall 
see then how good God has been to us, how patient, 
what great graces He has given to each soul, so 
that we could all have been saved if we had chosen ; 
and we shall also understand then many things that 
seem strange to us now : why God lets some wicked 
people to be so rich and seem so happy; while 
others, who are good and try to serve Him, are poor 
and ill, and seem to have so many troubles. 

Once Jesus was speaking about the Judgment, 
and it is very useful to us to know and remember 
what He said, because it shows us how easily we 
can help ourselves. He told us that He would say 
to the good people : " Come, ye blessed of My 
[Father, for I was hungry, and you gave Me to eat; 
I was thirsty, and you gave Me to drink." And 
that the good people would answer : " Lord, when 
did we see Thee hungry, and give Thee to eat ? " 
And that He would say to the wicked : " Depart 
from Me, ye cursed, for I was hungry, and ye gave 
Me not to eat ; thirsty, and ye gave Me not to drink." 
Then the wicked people also would be much sur- 
prised, for they would not remember when they had 
refused to give food or help to Jesus. They had 
forgotten what Christ said to us, that if we are 
kind and charitable to other people, He will take it 
as though we were kind and charitable to Him; 
while if we are hard and unkind to others, it is 



The Apostles' Creed. 115 

as though we are hard and unkind to Jesus Him- 
self. 

Another time Our Lord said : " Judge not, and 
you shall not be judged." If we will keep ourselves 
from thinking and saying unkind things of other 
people, we shall find great mercy when we come to 
be judged, for God has promised us that " the mer- 
ciful shall obtain mercy." 

That does not mean that if we die in mortal sin 
God will send us to heaven instead of hell. It 
means that, even if we fall into mortal sin, God will 
send us very great graces, so that we may repent 
before we die. So you see that we can arrange for 
our judgment as we like, for as we treat other peo- 
ple who are God's children, so will He treat us. 

The Eighth Article of the Creed is : "I believe in 
the Holy Ghost." 

We already know that God the Holy Ghost is the 
Third Person of the Blessed Trinity, and that He 
is equal to the Father and the Son, being the same 
Lord and God as they are. We are taught that the 
Holy Ghost proceeds " from the Father and the 
Son," though He is the same God as they are; He 
is called the Spirit of God, and the Gift of God, 
and sometimes the Paraclete. 

The Holy Ghost showed Himself when He de- 
scended upon Our Lord in the form of a dove at 
His baptism, and again in the form of a cloud at 
His transfiguration, and He descended upon Our 
Lady and the apostles on the day of Pentecost, ten 
days after Our Lord's ascension, in the form of 
tongues of fire, with the sound as of a rushing wind. 



CHAPTEE XV. 
the apostles' creed. {Continued.) 

The Ninth Article of the Creed is : " The holy 
Catholic Church, the communion of saints." 

The holy Catholic Church means all those who 
submit themselves obediently to the authority or 
power of the Pope. When Our Lord went up to 
heaven, after His life of teaching upon earth, He 
left the apostles to carry on His work and to teach 
all nations. He also appointed St. Peter to be over 
the apostles and head of the Church. 

St. Peter, therefore, was the first Pope. To him 
Jesus said : " Thou art Peter, and upon this rock 
I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall 
not prevail (be strong) against it, and to thee I 
will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven." 

You remember that St. Peter's name was Simon. 
The word Peter means " a rock," so that when Jesus 
said " Thou art Peter," it was as if He had said : 
" Thou art a rock, and upon this rock I will build 
My Church." So from that time Simon was called 
Peter. He was the Bishop of Rome, and now each 
Pope in turn is Bishop of Rome. 

116 



The Apostles' Creed. 11? 

Tke word Pope means " father " ; we call the 
Pope by that name because he is the spiritual father 
of all Christians, as well as their shepherd and 
teacher. 

We call the Pope infallible because he cannot 
teach us wrong when he is speaking to the Church 
as its head, and about faith and morals — that is, 
about the things that we have to believe or to do 
in order to be saved. This does not mean that, 
when a man becomes Pope, he is so wise and learned 
that he knows everything. Even if a Pope should 
be a wicked man, and go to hell himself, when he 
is teaching as head of the Church, God will not 
let him teach anything wrong. 

You see, if the Pope could teach us what is not 
true, people would never know what they have to 
believe; so God promised that the Pope shall 
never err — that is, go wrong — when he is teaching 
God's Church. 

Catholics are obliged to believe everything that 
the Church teaches ; they may not believe one thing, 
and refuse to believe another. People who do that 
are called heretics. 

People who refuse to obey the Pope, and to be- 
lieve that he is the head of the Church, are called 
schismatics ; those who do not believe in God or 
what He has revealed are called infidels. There 
are some people who say that there is some supreme 
Being, but that we know nothing about Him, and 
they are called agnostics. 

Heathens are those who have never heard any- 
thing about God, and idolaters are those who make 
images and worship them — that is to say, give them 



118 The Apostles' Creed. 

the honor that belongs to God alone. They make 
figures of stone or wood, and pray to them, and ex- 
pect to be helped by them. 

You will often hear these words and names 
spoken of, so it is well that you should understand 
what they mean. 

There are four great marks by which the Church 
is known: she is one; she is holy; she is Catholic; 
and she is apostolic. When we say that the Church 
is one, it means that all the members of the Church 
are under one visible head — that is, the Pope — are 
all submitted to his government, and obey his or- 
ders. All Catholics believe the same doctrines. 
Wherever there are Catholics, all over the world, 
they all believe the same things; there is no change 
in the Church, in no matter what country. All 
Catholics believe in the great Sacrifice of the Mass, 
and everything else that the Church teaches. 

The Church is holy, because all that she teaches 
is good and holy. She is always teaching us to be 
good, and do penance for our sins, and to be good 
to one another. 

She is holy also because she offers to us all the 
means by which we may become holy — the Mass, 
the sacraments, and all kinds of devotions and 
helps. 

She is Catholic. That means, she is universal, 
because she has gone on ever since Our Lord first 
appointed her to 'teach us, and she will go on till 
the very end of the world. She teaches all the 
things which Jesus commanded to be taught to us, 
and she is the true fold into which the whole of 
Our Lord's flock is to be gathered together. She 



The Apostles' 1 Creed. 119 

has spread out over all nations, and we find her 
wherever we go, and always the same. 

When first the apostles went out into the world 
to teach all nations, they said Mass. The Mass 
was the same sacrifice that Jesus offered up at the 
Last Supper, but there was at first no fixed order 
of prayers, and some of the apostles said Mass in a 
different manner from others. When, later on, all 
the ceremonies were arranged as they now are, some 
small differences in the order of the prayers were 
allowed to remain as the apostles had left them. 
You must, however, remember that the Sacrifice of 
the Mass is always the same, nothing can change 
that. You may hear of High Mass, and Low Mass, 
and Mass of Our Lady, and Mass for the dead; 
that only means that there is some change in the 
prayers and ceremonies, not any change in the 
Mass itself. In High Mass incense is offered, and 
the prayers are sung instead of said, which makes 
it much longer than a Low Mass. In a Mass offered 
for the dead, the first prayer which the priest says 
at the foot of the altar is left out, and the " Gloria " 
and Creed are not said. 

The Church orders the Mass to be said in Latin, 
because that is a language which is not in general 
use, so that it does not change as other languages 
do, to which people often add new words, and leave 
out old ones. 

If the Mass were said in the- language of each 
country, strangers would not understand. Now 
all learn to follow Mass in Latin, and when 
they go to another country, they find it just the 
same. 



120 The Apostles' Creed. 

When we speak of the fourth mark of the Church, 
she is apostolic, we mean that the Church has all 
the teaching of the apostles, and that she has her 
mission, or sending to teach all nations, from them, 
through the long, unbroken line of the Popes since 
the time of Our Lord and His first Pope, St. Peter, 
till the present time. Since St. Peter there has al- 
ways been a Pope, and there always will be one till 
the end of the world. 

Since the time when Jesus made His apostles 
priests, at the Last Supper, the Sacrament of Holy 
Orders has been given to every bishop and priest 
of the Church. 

These are the four marks by which God's Church 
is known. We see them, and we know by them that 
she is the Church founded by Jesus Himself, so 
she cannot go wrong or teach us what is wrong, 
because Our Lord promised that the Holy Ghost 
should teach her all things, and that He Himself 
would be always with her. 

The second part of the Ninth Article of the 
Creed is " The communion of saints." This means 
that there are three great divisions in God's Church. 
We call them the " Church triumphant," that is, 
all the angels and saints in heaven ; the " Church 
militant," or fighting, that is, the Church upon earth 
always fighting against God's enemies; and the 
" Church suffering," that is, all the holy souls suf- 
fering in purgatory. 

These three parts are in communion — that means 
that they are always helping one another. The 
saints pray for the people living in the world, and 
for the souls in purgatory. We on earth pray for 



The Apostles' Creed. 121 

the souls in purgatory, and when we have helped 
them to get to heaven, they in turn pray for us. 

We people on earth are in communion with one 
another, because we all believe in the same truths, 
all obey the Church, and all help one another by 
our prayers and kind actions. We are in commu- 
nion with the saints because we honor them and 
pray to them, and we are in communion with the 
souls in purgatory, because we pray for them and 
help them by gaining indulgences for them. 

You have already been told that a soul which dies 
in mortal sin goes immediately to hell. Those 
which die in venial or lesser sin go to purgatory. 
Besides the wickedness of it, every sin has a punish- 
ment belonging to it. We very easily forget, when 
we are inclined to tell a lie or be disobedient, that 
we shall have to pay for the sin we commit; but 
it is so, and the debt must be paid, either in this 
world or in purgatory. 

If we choose to pay our debt in this world, we 
can do so, and Jesus will accept very little payment ; 
prayers, acts of mortification, even pains which we 
cannot help suffering, if we suffer them patiently 
of our own free will. But if we choose to leave all 
our punishment for the next world, then it will be 
much harder to bear. 

If a person has committed mortal sins, and has 
been sorry for them, all the guilt — that is, the wicked- 
ness of them — is forgiven, but the punishment re- 
mains, and the soul, though it is the dear friend of 
Jesus, must go to purgatory until all its debt is paid. 
Many souls die with venial sins unforgiven, and 
also with the debt of punishment for forgiven sins. 



122 The Apostles' Creed. 

We are told in Holy Scripture that nothing which 
is defiled — that is, stained — can enter heaven, so all 
these stains of sin must be cleaned away in pur- 
gatory before the soul is fit to enter heaven. 

Before a soul enters purgatory it has been judged,, 
and so has seen our dear Lord, and feels for the 
first time how sinful and how ungrateful it has 
been. Then it begins to love Je*sus as it never loved 
before, and, when it goes away into purgatory, it is 
full of longing to see Him again and be with Him. 

Souls in purgatory are very patient. Though 
they know that their friends on the earth are amus- 
ing themselves and forgetting them, they never 
grow angry or impatient. They are very poor, these 
souls in purgatory, and have nothing, and cannot 
help themselves. They could have helped them- 
selves while they were on earth, but they did not 
think about it then, and now they can do nothing 
but suffer. They have to depend upon us for help 
if their time of punishment is to be shortened. 

It is an absolute duty to help the souls in pur- 
gatory. We are commanded to love our neighbors 
as ourselves, and we should never leave our dear 
selves to suffer if we could help it. By praying for 
them and helping them, we can do all the corporal 
works of mercy, for no one is so poor or so hungry 
and thirsty for God, no one so without a home, as 
the holy souls, and if we help them we shall be do- 
ing merciful acts, and so may expect mercy our- 
selves. We can say prayers for the holy souls, and 
offer our Masses for them, and gain indulgences for 
them. 

An indulgence is the letting off the punishment 



The Apostles' Creed. 123 

that is due for our sins. It could never let off the 
wickedness of sin; that must be forgiven by the 
Sacrament of Confession. We cannot gain any in- 
dulgences if we are in a state of mortal sin. 

There are two sorts of indulgences — " plenary " 
and " partial." A plenary or full indulgence lets 
off the whole of the punishment that is due; so 
that, if we were to gain a plenary indulgence and 
then die, we should go straight to heaven, because 
there would be no debt owing. To gain a plenary 
indulgence the usual conditions are : confession, 
communion, and some prayers for the Pope's inten- 
tion, said in a public church after communion. 
When we pray for the Pope's intention, we mean 
those things which the Pope wants for the good of 
the Church. It is enough to say for these in- 
tentions five " Our Fathers " and five " Hail Marys." 

After you have made your first communion, you 
can gain plenary indulgences, and you can, if you 
choose, gain several by one communion; but, if you 
do, the prayers for the Pope's intention must be 
said separately, and a separate visit mu§t be made 
to say them for each indulgence. 

To gain the plenary indulgence fully, all the con- 
ditions must be very carefully done, and we must be 
very sorry for our sins; so, as we cannot be sure 
that we have gained a plenary indulgence, it is well 
to try for as many as we can. 

A partial indulgence lets off only a part of the 
punishment of our sins. You often see in your 
prayer-book that by saying some prayer, you can 
get forty, or a hundred, or three hundred days' in- 
dulgence. That does not mean that you will be let 



124 The Apostles' Creed. 

off actually a hundred or three hundred days of 
purgatory, for in purgatory there are no nights or 
days. It means that you will be let off as long a 
time in purgatory as if you had fasted or done some 
severe penance for that number of days. 

To obtain a partial indulgence, confession and 
communion are not required; all we have to do is 
to say the prayers carefully and devoutly. Indul- 
genced prayers must always be said with our lips, 
not merely thought in our minds, as some prayers 
may be. 

Now you see how very easy it is to help the holy 
souls. Even little children who have not made their 
first communion can gain partial indulgences, and 
give them to the holy souls. Many indulgenced 
prayers are very short; they do not take a moment 
to say. One can say the words, " My Jesus, 
mercy ! " as fast as one can breathe ; they can be 
said in the midst of a game of play, and no one will 
notice. One can say them going up and downstairs, 
out walking, or going to sleep at night, and each 
time a hundred days' indulgence is gained for some 
loving, suffering soul. 

Jesus loves these souls, and wishes very much to 
have them with Him in heaven. How grateful He 
will be to any one that helps His poor children, and 
brings them to Him; and how pleased He will be, 
when our time comes, to remember that we were 
merciful, and that He can show mercy to us, as He 
promised. 

Many people like to gain all the indulgences they 
can get ; so it is well at our morning prayers to 
make an intention — that is, say that we mean to get 



The Apostles' Creed. 125 

as many as we can in the day, and offer them to the 
Blessed Virgin for the holy souls; she knows which 
of them want help most. 

Or we can offer them ourselves for any of our 
own friends, or for the soul that has the fewest peo- 
ple to pray for it, or for the one that is nearest to 
coming out of purgatory, so that it may come 
quickly to God. 

The Tenth Article of the Creed is, " The forgive- 
ness of sins." This means that God gave to His 
Church the power to forgive sins, when He said: 
" Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven ; 
whose sins you shall retain (keep on), they are re- 
tained." 

Sins, as you know, are divided into two kinds, 
" original " sin, and " actual " sin. 

" Original " sin is -the guilt that came upon us 
from the sin that Adam committed, and it is for- 
given by the Sacrament of Baptism. Every crea- 
ture, since the time of Adam, has been born in origi- 
nal sin, excepting only our blessed Lady. She was 
immaculate, that is, she was born without the stain 
of Adam's sin. She was to be the Mother of God, 
and so could never have belonged to the devil. God, 
who knows all things, knew that she would never 
commit the least sin, and He gave her the great 
privilege (favor) of being born without the stain 
of Adam's sin, so as to make her fit to be the pure, 
immaculate Mother of His Son. 

" Actual " sins are the sins that we ourselves 
commit, and they are divided into " mortal " sin 
and " venial " sin. " Mortal " sin kills the soul, and 
deserves hell ; " venial " sin makes the soul ill and 



126 The Apostles' Creed. 

weak, but does not kill it. Mortal and venial sins 
are both forgiven in the Sacrament of Penance or 
confession. 

Sometimes you hear people say, " It is only a 
venial sin," as if a venial sin were a very small, 
trifling matter. You must remember that, though 
mortal sin is the most dreadful thing in the world, 
much more dreadful even than being burned to 
death, still, after mortal sin, venial sin is a most 
terrible thing. If you hear that some person has a 
bad fever, or a broken arm, you do not say, " It is 
only a fever, or a broken arm, so it does not matter." 

That is because you can see how ill and sore the 
body can be, but you cannot see what happens to 
the soul when a venial sin has been committed. 

The Eleventh Article of the Creed is, " The resur- 
rection of the body." This means that at the last 
day our bodies will rise again — these very bodies 
that we have now. When we die, our bodies will 
be put into the grave, where they will turn into 
dust. They will remain so until the great day of 
Judgment. Then they will be joined again to the 
souls, and both together will appear before God, to 
hear again the sentence that was pronounced upon 
them at their own Judgment after their death. 

The Twelfth Article of the Creed is, " life ever- 
lasting." This means that our bodies and souls, 
once more joined together, will live forever. The 
good people will go into heaven, and there they will 
be happy forever and ever with God. 

The wicked people will go, body and soul, into 
hell, where they will be forever with the devils, 
God's great enemies and ours. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 

The Ten Commandments are ten great orders 
which God gives to us, and at the last day we shall 
have to give an account to Him as to how we have 
kept them. 

The first three Commandments belong altogether 
to the service of God ; the other seven show us what 
we are to do about our neighbors — that is, the peo- 
ple who are around us, and have to do with us. 

It ought not to be difficult to us to keep the Com- 
mandments, for all the things we are told to do or 
uot to do are for our own good, and if we disobey 
the Commandments, it does us harm even in this 
world. 

The first and greatest of all the Commandments 
is this : 

" Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy 
whole heart, and wifh thy whole soul, and with thy 
whole strength." 

This Commandment means that we must know 
God, and love Him, and serve Him. We cannot 
love God if we do not know anything about Him. 
Even a little child, who takes pains to learn its 
Catechism and listen to what it is taught, can know 

127 



128 The Commandments of God. 

a great deal about God, and how good He is, and 
how much He loves us. When we know that, we 
shall begin to love God, because we always get to 
love people who show that they love us. Once we 
love God, we shall begin to want to please God and 
serve Him. 

Little children do serve God when they are kind 
and patient to one another, and keep from telling 
lies or being disobedient, because He has forbidden 
these things. 

The First Commandment also tells us that we 
must believe all that God's holy religion teaches us, 
and that we must pray to God and always ask Him 
for help. 

The Second Commandment is, " Thou shalt not 
take the name of the Lord thy God in vain." That 
means that we must always speak very respectfully 
about God and holy things. 

Sometimes children get a bad habit of talking in 
a silly way about their Catechism, or about priests, 
or the church they go to, but you must remember 
that this is wrong. You must not use the name of 
God in play, and if He is spoken of, it must be 
very reverently. 

The Second Commandment says that we must not 
take any oath or vow that is not necessary. 

An oath is when we ask God to witness — that is 
to say, to see that we are speaking the truth about 
something. An oath usually has to be taken in a 
court of justice, and if we took a false oath — that 
is, swore, or called God to witness that something 
was true when it was not, that would be a mortal 
sin, called perjury. 



The Commandments of God. 129 

A vow is a solemn promise to God to do some- 
thing. Monks and nuns take vows of poverty and 
obedience — that is to say, they promise to give up 
all their money and to obey their superiors. A vow 
is a very terrible and solemn thing; little children 
need never make a vow. 

It would be a great sin to vow to do something 
that was impossible or wrong, and if we had vowed 
to do something wrong, we would be obliged to 
break the vow. 

To curse a person is to wish that God may do 
some harm to that person. It is very wrong to wish 
to injure any one, and God will punish us for the 
wish. If we are angry with some person, the best 
thing to do is to pray for him. 

The Third Commandment, " Remember that thou 
keep holy the Sabbath day," reminds us that God 
gave us six days for our work, but that the seventh 
day was to be given to Him. 

The Jews used to keep the seventh day, our Sat- 
urday, for their holy-day, but the Church tells us 
to keep the first day of the week, Sunday, because 
Our Lord rose from the dead on the first day, and 
the Holy Ghost came down on the apostles, and 
many other things happened on that day. 

We are to keep Sunday holy by hearing Mass, 
and we are not to do any unnecessary work. Some 
work must be done; the fires must be lighted, and 
the food must be cooked, but we are not to do more 
than is really wanted, because if we are busy with 
all sorts of work, we have not time to hear or read 
about God, or to go to Mass and Benediction, and 
the day would be our day and not God's day, on 



130 The Commandments of God. 

which He wants us to have time to think of Him, 
and speak to Him, and visit Him in church, as we 
cannot do on the other days, when we have work to 
do. The work is a good thing, and should be done 
to please God, but not on the day when He wants 
us to be quiet, and attend to Him more than to 
anything else. 

The Fourth Commandment, " Honor thy father 
and mother," commands us to be obedient to all 
those who are put over us by God. Not our fathers 
and our mothers only, but nurses, governesses, 
teachers, and all those who are in charge of us. 

We must remember that there are two ways of 
being disobedient; sometimes we are told to do 
something, and we do not do it : that is disobedience. 
The other kind of disobedience is to do something 
which we have been told not to do. 

It is wilfulness, which is very like disobedience, 
when we do something which we know we ought not 
to do, and excuse it by saying that we had not been 
forbidden to do it. 

Obedience should be cheerful and willing. Even 
if we do not like to do what we are told, we must 
not grumble or argue about it or be sulky. If any 
one in charge of us should tell us to do that which 
would be a real sin, we must not obey. 

The Fifth Commandment : " Thou shalt not kill," 
forbids us to kill any one in anger. Soldiers, as 
part of their duty, have to kill their enemies; but 
this is not murder, because they do not know any- 
thing of the persons they kill, and have no anger 
against them. Sometimes a murderer is sentenced 
to be hanged, and the hangman or executioner has 



The Commandments of God. 131 

to kill him, but that is not murder on his part, as 
he is obeying the laws of the country. 

The Fifth Commandment also forbids anger, 
quarrelling, provoking another person, and revenge. 

Revenge means doing something to hurt or vex 
other persons because they have hurt or vexed us. 
Sometimes, when they are angry, children say or 
think about another : " I will pay him (or her) 
out for this." That is revenge, even if it is only a 
small thing we mean to do. 

There is another part of this Commandment 
which children often forget. We can see our neigh- 
bor's body, and when we have hurt a person he cries 
out, so that we know we have hurt him; but we 
must not forget that it is quite as easy, and much 
more sinful, to hurt our neighbor's soul. 

This does not make the person cry out, and he 
does not always feel that he is hurt; but if we give 
a bad example, or persuade some one to commit a 
sin, we do what may injure his soul very much; and 
if we have persuaded him to commit a mortal sin, 
we have killed his soul — and that is worse than if 
we had killed his body. 

The Sixth Commandment, " Thou shalt not com- 
mit adultery," does not concern children, so we will 
not say much about it here. You remember when 
we spoke of the eight Beatitudes, you heard of the 
promise that God made to the clean of heart — that 
they should see God. In the same way this Com- 
mandment requires us to keep our hearts and our 
bodies very pure and clean, and to be very careful 
and watchful over ourselves — never to say or do 
anything that we should not like to say or do before 



132 The Commandments of God. 

our guardian angel, or when our mother was looking 
at us. 

The Seventh Commandment is : " Thou shalt not 
steal." 

We all understand what is meant by stealing — 
that is, taking away what belongs to another per- 
son ; but there are many other ways of breaking this 
Commandment. It forbids us to wrong our neigh- 
bor, in any way, concerning the things that belong 
to him. We must not borrow things and then spoil 
or lose them; we must not borrow money if we 
shall not be able to pay it back again. 

Any cheating in buying or selling would be 
against this Commandment, for we are not to do 
anything that would do harm to our neighbor in his 
property. 

Sometimes children cheat when they are playing 
at cards or at different sorts of games, and though 
this may be done for fun and may not be a sin, still 
it is a very bad habit, and comes from a selfish wish 
to have the best, or to be first. 

You must remember that if you have taken any- 
thing belonging to another person, you must give it 
back, or give the value (that is, what it is worth) 
of it. If we want to keep it, it is unjust, and shows 
that we are not really sorry for having taken it, so 
we cannot be forgiven. 

The Eighth Commandment is : " Thou shalt not 
bear false witness against thy neighbor." To bear 
witness is to tell what we know about anything, and 
it is very easy to injure other people by telling 
what we know about them. 

We all know that it is very wrong to tell lies, but 



The Commandments of God. 133 

we do not always think how many sins we commit 
by talking carelessly, saying things that are only 
partly true or that are exaggerated — that is, made 
greater than they really are. It is much easier not 
to talk at all about other people than to speak of 
them so as to do them no harm. 

If we say anything really bad about any one, and 
it is not true, it is called " calumny," and is a bad 
sin, for it is a lie, besides doing harm to our neigh- 
bor. 

If we say anything bad of our neighbor, and it is 
true, but people do not know about it, it is called 
u detraction." 

Even if a thing is perfectly true, if it is not 
known we must not tell it, because, if we do, peo- 
ple will not think as well of the person we speak 
about as they did before; and we must not do any- 
thing to injure his character — that is, to make peo- 
ple think badly of him. 

We must not tell tales about people, or speak un- 
kindly about them, and if one person has spoken 
unkindly about another, we must never repeat what 
has been said so as to make mischief. 

God loves us all so much that He has said that 
He will consider any harm done to any of us as if 
it were done to Himself, so you see how very careful 
we must be not to do any harm to another person, 
either to his body, or soul, or character, or property. 

If we have said anything that is not true about 
a person, we must " eat humble pie," as people say, 
and go and tell that what we said was not true be- 
fore we go to confession. If the bad thing we said 
was true we cannot take it back, but we can try to 



134 The Commandments of God. 

speak very kindly of the person, so as to make it 
up, if possible. 

Sometimes — but that only happens very seldom — 
we are allowed to tell harm of our neighbor, that is, 
if we were to see a child doing something wrong, 
and we could stop it by telling its mother, or the 
people who are in charge of it. 

The Ninth Commandment is : " Thou shalt not 
covet thy neighbor's wife." 

This Commandment tells us to keep our minds 
and thoughts pure and clean, to be very watchful 
over all the thoughts that pass through our minds. 

Many people believe that there is no sin in 
thoughts as long as we do not commit sinful ac- 
tions. This is quite wrong. If we like to think 
about a sin, or wish or intend to do it, the sin is 
committed, even if we should not do the outward 
action. Therefore we must turn away from any 
wrong thought the moment we see that it is in any 
way wrong. 

The Tenth Commandment is : " Thou shalt not 
covet thy neighbor's goods." 

This Commandment is like the second part of the 
Seventh Commandment. That says that we shall 
not steal our neighbor's goods, and this says that 
we must not even wish to take them. To covet 
means to wish very much to have a thing. Now, 
if we go on looking at a thing that belongs to some 
one else, and wishing it were our own, we may eas- 
ily be tempted, if an opportunity comes, to take it, 
and then we have committed the sin of stealing. 

So we must not let ourselves go on wishing, but 
must think of something else. 



The Commandments of God. 135 

To wish that we had another thing of the same 
kind would not be a sin, but if we kept on thinking 
and thinking, we might easily run into temptation, 
so it is better to try to turn our thoughts to some- 
thing quite different. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

THE COMMANDMENTS OF THE CHURCH. 

There are six Commandments, or orders, given 
by the Church, and we are bound to obey them 
under pain of sin. The difference between the 
Commandments of God and of the Church is this : 

Ko one could ever give you leave to break one of 
the Commandments of God; but the Church, which 
made its own Commandments, can give us leave to 
break them, or set them aside when there is real 
necessity. 

The Church is our Mother, and will not ask us 
to do anything that is too hard for us ; but we must 
remember that God looks to our will, and if we 
disobey the Commandments of the Church only to 
please ourselves, we shall commit a sin. 

The First Commandment of the Church says that 
we must hear Mass on Sundays and holidays of 
obligation. The Third Commandment of God tells 
us that we must keep the Sunday holy; this tells 
us in what way we must keep it holy — we must hear 
Mass — that is, we must be present at the whole of 
the Mass. 

If by our own fault we come to Mass so late that 

136 



The Commandments of the Church. 137 

the Offertory is begun, we have not heard Mass as 
we ought, and if we knew we should be so late, and 
that was the only Mass, we should commit grievous 
sin. It is a venial sin if we come in by our own 
fault after Mass has commenced. 

To hear Mass is a most important and solemn 
thing, and we should not miss any part of it. If 
we do so by our own carelessness, it shows that we 
do not understand what the Mass really is, or how 
grateful we should be to be allowed to be present 
at it. 

There are six holydays of obligation in the United 
States — that is, days when we are bound to hear 
Mass, and which must be kept like Sunday if pos- 
sible; but this is a Protestant country, and many 
people are obliged to go to work in offices or shops 
after they have heard Mass, and sometimes, if their 
work begins very early, or they live far from the 
church, they cannot even hear Mass.' 

The six holydays of obligation kept in the United 
States are the Immaculate Conception, Christmas 
Day, the Circumcision, the Ascension, the Assump- 
tion of Our Lady, and All Saints. 

The Second Commandment of the Church is, " To 
keep the days of fasting and abstinence appointed 
by the Church." 

By " fasting " we mean days on which we may 
have only one full meal. We may also have a small 
meal, called a " collation," and we may take a small 
piece of bread at breakfast-time. 

The fasting days are the forty days of Lent, the 
vigils or days before some great feasts; the Ember 
days, that is, the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday 



138 The Commandments of the Church. 

of one week in each quarter, when we pray for men 
who are about to be made priests, and Fridays in 
Advent, that is, the time that comes in preparation 
for Christmas. 

Abstinence days are days on which we may have 
our usual number of meals, but we may not eat 
meat or anything made with meat. All Fridays are 
abstinence days, except when Christmas day comes 
on a Friday. On some days of Lent, though they 
are fasting days, the Church gives us leave to eat 
meat, as long as we do not have more than the 
proper number of meals. 

We must remember that on all fasting days it is 
forbidden to eat fish and meat at the same meal. 

Children begin to keep abstinence when they are 
about seven, but fasting does not begin till the age 
of twenty-one. The fasting and abstinence days 
must be kept under pain of sin if we can do so, but 
the Church does not wish us to injure our health; 
so, if we cannot do without our meals, or without 
meat, without making ourselves ill, we must tell the 
priest, and he will advise us, and, if he considers 
it necessary, tell us not to fast or to abstain. 

We must be careful, if we are obliged to give up 
fasting and abstinence, not to do so without suffi- 
cient reason, nor to go on too long without trying 
again; and it is good to impose some little morti- 
fication on ourselves to make up for that which we 
are unable to perform. 

The Third Commandment of the Church is, " To 
go to confession at least once a year." 

The Church only orders us, under pain of sin, to 
go to confession once a year; but we must not 



The Cominandments of the Church. 139 

think that this means that we ought not to go 
oftener. 

We should be very sorry, and very much ashamed, 
if we had to show ourselves before other people with 
our faces and clothes all covered with mud; that is 
because we can see our bodies and know what we 
look like. Yet we forget that sins cover our souls 
with black marks which are most disgusting in the 
sight of God and His angels; we cannot see our 
souls, and therefore we think it does not matter. 
That shows that we do not remember that God is. 
always looking at our soul, and that He is grieved 
and angry when we do harm to it, for we are His 
children, and He wants us all to be with Him in 
heaven. 

The more care we take of our souls, and the 
cleaner they are, the more often will we wish to go 
to confession. If a cloth is quite white and clean, 
we notice the least spot upon it; if it is dirty and 
soiled, we scarcely see any new spots that come; 
so in the same way the saints, whose consciences are 
quite pure, see and grieve over sins which we would 
hardly notice; for our souls, when they have been 
long away from confession come to be covered with 
stains. 

The Fourth Commandment of the Church orders; 
us to " receive holy communion at least once a 
year, and that at Easter or thereabouts." 

Some people are so foolish that they very seldom 
go to holy communion, and when they are told that 
they ought to go often, they say : " The Church 
says we need only go once a year."' This is very 
silly. If a doctor were to tell them that they must 



140 The Commandments of the Church. 

eat at least once a week, or they would die, they 
would never think that he was advising them to eat 
only once in the week; on the contrary, they would 
be careful to eat several times a day. They do this 
because their body likes food, and craves or longs 
for it, and if it does not get plenty it feels weak, 
and makes them very uncomfortable. 

But the poor soul, when it is starved and weak, 
cannot cry out like the body does, so people take no 
notice of it. We must remember that the soul can- 
not live without its food, the Blessed Sacrament, 
any more than the body can live without the many 
sorts of foods that God has made for it. 

Then, when oirr souls are weak, temptation comes 
upon us, and we have no strength to resist, so per- 
haps we fall into mortal sin, and our souls are 
killed. When we have, by our own carelessness, let 
our souls get weak, we cannot expect them to work, 
or to do things for God. 

God wishes to live in our souls, to have them for 
His home. He wishes exceedingly to come to us in 
holy communion; but if He is to come, our souls 
must be made clean, and prepared to receive Him. 
We make the soul clean by a good confession, and 
then we should try to prepare in it what is pleasing 
to God. He wants to find in it faith, hope, and 
charity : 

Faith, that He is really God, though He comes 
only under the appearance of bread. 

Hope, that He who gives us Himself, will give 
us all other things that we need, and that one clay 
we who have received Him into our hearts in this 
life shall be received into His home in heaven. 



The Commandments of the Church. 141 

God also wants to find in our hearts, when He 
comes, a great charity or love for Him. 

Besides faith, hope, and charity, we must have 
contrition for our sins, and humility, seeing how 
unworthy we are that the great God should come 
into such a poor miserable place. 

God wants us to wish very much to receive Him. 
We should not like to visit a friend if we thought 
that friend did not care to have us, and found it 
a great trouble to prepare for us. In the same way, 
our dear Lord will not take pleasure in coming to 
us if He sees that we do not care to receive Him, 
and that we only go to communion because we are 
obliged. He sees when we are unwilling to take 
any trouble to prepare ourselves for communion, or 
to give up any little pleasure or amusement in order 
to keep our thoughts recollected. 

The night before communion we should keep our 
thoughts from anything that may distract us in 
the morning. If we have been reading a story, and 
keep on thinking about it till we go to sleep, it will 
come into our minds as soon as we wake, and it 
will be difficult for us to fix our minds on the great 
and wonderful thing we are going to do. 

Always, when we are going to holy communion, 
we must be fasting from midnight — that is, twelve 
o'clock — when the new day begins. The reason of 
this is, that the Blessed Sacrament should be the 
very first food that we have had that day. There- 
fore, if we have taken anything — a drink of water, 
a dose of medicine, or even the smallest scrap of 
food — we cannot go to communion that day. 

If some scrap of food should remain between our 



142 The Commandments of the Church. 

teeth from the night before, it would not break our 
fast to swallow it, nor would a drop of water, if 
we swallowed it by accident when we were cleaning 
our teeth, but we must not take the least thing as 
food. 

We must remember to make our thanksgiving 
very carefully after communion. Our blessed Lord 
remains with us for about a quarter of an hour, 
and that time is the most precious of our lives. 
Our Lord belongs to us entirely ; He is attending to 
us, listening to us, as if there were no one else in 
all the world. We should not begin immediately 
to ask Him for things we want ; first we must adore 
Him, and thank Him for having come to visit us; 
after a little while we may ask Him freely for the 
things we want for ourselves, and for other people, 
tell Him if anything makes us unhappy, and ask 
His help against the temptations we most easily fall 
into. 

Jesus knows everything, but He likes us to tell 
Him everything we want, as if He did not know it. 
When He lived upon the earth, and people came to 
see Llim, He always made them tell Him what they 
wanted. There were very many blind men in Judea, 
and many lepers, but only those were cured who 
went to Our Lord for help, or were carried to Him 
l)y others. 

There are many people in this world whose souls 
are blind and covered with sin. They do not know 
Our Lord, so they cannot go to Him for help, but 
we can bring these poor souls before Our Lord, and 
say for them what they cannot say for themselves, 
*" Jesus, Son of Mary, have pity on them ! " 



The Commandments of the Church. 143 

Both for ourselves and for others, it is better to 
pray for souls than bodies. We cannot ever be 
wrong in asking for grace, for more love, more hu- 
mility or contrition — every one wants these things. 
But we do not know what is good for people's bodies, 
and we may be wasting our time in asking some- 
thing for ourselves or others which would not be 
good for them, and which God, our loving Father, 
will not give, any more than a loving mother would 
give her child a dose of poison because it cried 
for it. 

Our thanksgiving after communion should last 
a quarter of an hour, because Our Lord remains 
with us about that time, but, if we can, we may 
make it longer, because it is such precious time, 
and we can do so much with it. 

However often or seldom we go to communion, 
we must be sure to go during the time the Church 
fixes, that is, between the beginning of Lent and 
Trinity Sunday, the Sunday after Pentecost. If 
we should be ill, and not able to go to Church, the 
priest would come to hear our confession, and give 
us holy communion, so that we could fulfil our 
Easter duties, as this confession and communion 
are called. 

The Fifth Commandment of the Church, "To 
contribute to the support of our pastors," means 
that all are obliged to give, as far as they can, 
money for the support of the priests of their parish. 
When a man becomes a priest, he gives himself en- 
tirely to the service of God and the people. He 
cannot be a doctor, or a lawyer, or follow any trade 
so as to earn money. He must be always at the 



144 The Commandments of the Church. 

church, to say Mass for us, to hear confessions, 
visit sick people, and baptize children; so we must 
give him in return money for his house, and clothes, 
and food. 

People often forget this, and then the priests are 
very poor; but we are just as much obliged to obey 
this Commandment as any of the others. Children 
have very little money and therefore this Command- 
ment does not concern them much, but when they 
grow older they must nof forget it. 

The Sixth Commandment orders us " not to keep 
marriage-feasts at forbidden times, nor within cer- 
tain degrees of relationship." This does not con- 
cern children. It means that we must not, without 
some special reason, have marriage-feasts in Lent or 
Advent. 

Marriage is generally a time of rejoicing and 
feasting, and the Church does not want us to re- 
joice at the times set apart for doing penance, and 
preparing for the great days of Easter and Christ- 
mas. 



CHAPTER XYIIL 

THE SACRAMENTS. 

In this chapter we are going to speak about the 
seven Sacraments which, with prayer, are the great 
means of getting God's grace. You know already 
that prayer is speaking to God, and asking Him for 
what we want. Grace is the help which God gives 
to us all, that we may save our souls. 

To each person God gives all the help he needs; 
to some He gives more, to others less, but each one 
has as much grace as will save his soul if he makes 
the proper use of it; so there will be no use saying 
at the day of Judgment, " I could not help sin- 
ning." 

The chief way in which God gives us His grace 
is by means of the Sacraments. Each of these 
Sacraments has an outward sign, as well as an 
inward grace. We cannot see the soul of a person, 
and we cannot see the grace of God; therefore 
there must be some sign that we can see, so that 
we may know when the grace has been received ; 
and God has promised us that when the outward 
sign, which is our part of the work, has been prop- 
erly done, He will give the grace. 

145 



146 The Sacraments. 

There are two sorts of grace. One, which is the 
life of the soul, is called " sanctifying " grace, that 
is, grace which sanctifies or makes holy; and the 
other " actual " grace. If we commit a mortal sin, 
we lose " sanctifying " grace, and our soul is dead. 
If the devil is wanting us to do a sin — to tell a lie 
or be disobedient— we must quickly ask God, and 
He will send us a grace or help not to do the sin, 
and that sort of grace is called " actual " grace. 

The names of the seven Sacraments are: Bap- 
tism ; Confession, or, as we call it in the Catechism, 
Penance; Confirmation; Holy Eucharist; Holy 
Orders; Matrimony; and Extreme Unction. 

Of these, Baptism is the first and most important, 
because without it we could never go to heaven. 
The outward sign of Baptism is the pouring of the 
water on the baby's head, while the person who is 
pouring says the words : " I baptize thee in the 
name of the Eather, and of the Son, and of the 
Holy Ghost. Amen." The two things must be 
•done at the same time, or our part is not properly 
done, and the grace will not come to the child's 
soul. 

We can only be baptized once, because when 
Adam's sin is washed away it cannot come back 
again. Besides making the soul clean, Baptism 
makes it the child of God and heir of heaven. Do 
you know what this means? If a man possesses 
money and houses and land, his children are his 
heirs; that is, if they are alive when their father 
dies, the property is theirs. In the same way heaven 
belongs to us, as God's children, and if our soul is 
alive when the time comes, we shall have it; but 



The Sacraments. 147 

if we kill our soul while the body still lives, and 
the soul is dead when the end of our life comes, 
then we never can have heaven. 

Baptism is one of the Sacraments which make a 
mark on our soul, so that at the last day every one 
will see that we have been made children of God, 
whether we go to heaven or not. 

We have said that the stain of original sin can 
never come back; but when we grow up we commit 
other sins ourselves, so that we need another Sacra- 
ment to^ clean those away; therefore God gives us 
the Sacrament of Penance. 

There are two sorts of sin, mortal and venial 
sins. These are not different kinds of sin, as a table 
is different from a chair; they are the same kind 
of sin, only mortal sin is the big kind, and venial 
sin the smaller kind. 

Mortal sin kills the soul, because it destroys the 
grace of God, which is the life of the soul. Venial 
sin does not kill the soul, but it makes God angry, 
and is like an illness in the soul. So, you see, we 
want a Sacrament to bring the soul to life again 
if it is dead, and to make it clean and strong if it 
is dirty and ill. 

In 'the Sacrament of Penance there are three parts 
— contrition, confession, and satisfaction — and of 
these three, contrition is much the most important. 
Contrition means being very sorry that we have 
done bad things, and meaning not to do them again, 
because by doing them we have grieved God, who 
is Our Father, and loves us so much. 

Sometimes people are only sorry because they are 
afraid of going to hell ; that kind of sorrow is called 



148 The Sacraments. 

" attrition." By it our sins are forgiven in the 
Sacrament; but it is a selfish sorrow — thinking 
first of ourselves — and it does not please God very- 
much. Confession is our part of the outward sign, 
and means telling our sins to the priest. You see 
it is God who hears us and forgives us ; but we can- 
not see Him or hear His voice, so He tells us to 
go to the priest in His place. 

We must try to remember our sins, and tell them 
to the priest; but if we really forget some, God 
knows them, and that we meant to tell thein, so H3 
forgives them to us. In confession we must never 
tell other people's sins. It would not do to say, " I 
was cross, but So-and-so made me cross " — we must 
only speak of our own sins. 

Satisfaction means doing the penance the priest 
gives us. We must notice what prayer he tells us 
to say, and say it as soon as we can; and we must 
pronounce the prayers with our lips, not only think 
them in our mind. 

When we are preparing for confession, the first 
thing we must do is to ask God to help us, for we 
could not remember our sins, nor tell them to the 
priest, if God did not help us to think and to speak. 

Then we must examine our conscience. Our 
conscience is the feeling which God gives us all, 
which tells us when we have done something wrong, 
even if no one sees it or speaks to us about it. If 
we take a little quiet time and listen to it, our con- 
science will tell us when we have told a lie or been 
disobedient; and when we have thought of all the 
bad things we have done, and put them together, we 
know what we have to confess to the priest. 



The Sacraments. 149 

We must always remember that the priest is in 
God's place, and that he never thinks about our sins, 
or never tells any one what we have said, so we need 
not be afraid to tell him everything. When we 
know our sins as far as we can, the next thing" is 
to try to be sorry for them, for God will not forgive 
us if we are not sorry. 

To try to make ourselves sorry, we must remem- 
ber how very good God is to us, how much He has 
loved us, so that He died for us, and that He wants 
to forgive us and make friends with us even more 
than we want to . make friends with Him, so He 
says, " Just come and tell Me yourself what you 
have done, and that you are sorry for having done 
it, and I will wash it all away." 

You know that, if we do not tell God ourselves 
and get forgiven for our sins, He knows them with- 
out being told, and when we die He must punish us, 
though He does not want to punish us, His children, 
whom He loves so much, and wants to see in heaven. 
If we think of these things, and of Our Lord suffer- 
ing so much pain to save us from pain, we shall be 
sorry that we have done naughty things. 

God does not require us to sit down and cry about 
our sins, because we cannot do so, but He does want 
us to be able to say truly, " I am sorry that I did 
this thing, and I will not to do it again." This is 
V called the " resolution of amendment," and it is 
x very important, for God would not forgive us if 
we meant to do the same thing again. 

When we have made our confession, the priest 
will talk to us a little, advising us how to do better; 
then he will tell us what prayers we must say for 



150 The Sacraments. 

our penance, and then he will give us absolution. 
When he raises his hand and says the words of 
absolution, if our part has been well done, all our 
sins are washed away from our souls. 

When we go out of the confessional, we must 
make our thanksgiving — that is, we must thank 
our good God for His great mercy to us. Once Our 
Lord made ten lepers clean. He told them to go 
and show themselves to the priests, and while they 
were going they found that they were quite clean 
and well. 

Nine of them went on to their own houses to see 
their friends, and make themselves happy, but one 
man went straight back to Jesus to thank Him. 
When Our Lord saw him, He said : " Were not 
ten men made clean? Is only this one found to 
give thanks ? " 

We must not be ungrateful, like these lepers, and 
grieve the heart of Our Lord; so before we go home 
we thank Him for what He has done for us, and tell 
Him again that we mean to try to be better. 

We have said a great deal about grace, but some- 
times children find it hard to understand about it. 
They think that if they ask Him, God will " make " 
them good without their having any trouble about 
it; and sometimes, if they have asked for grace 
and then fallen into sin, they think that it was be- 
cause God would not give them the grace. J 

Now, God always gives us the grace we need, but^ 
He expects us to do our part as well. If we feel 
inclined to be angry, and ask for help, God gives 
it, but we must ourselves fight against the feel- 
ing of anger. If we fight well, we shall find that 



The Sacraments. 151 

we are strong enough to conquer it, but if we 
do not try hard, it will conquer us, in spite of the 
grace. 

When Our Lord cured the poor man sick of the 
palsy, He said to him " Arise," and as soon as the 
man tried he found that he could walk. Our Lord 
did not make him get up, and if the poor man had 
chosen to say, as we often do, " I cannot," then he 
would have remained on his bed, for it would not 
have been strength that he needed, but will, and 
God will not force our wills. If any one gave you 
a piece of money, and you locked it up in a drawer, 
you would have the money, but it would not be any 
good to you. It is just the same with grace if we 
do not use it. 

The next Sacrament we have to think about is 
Confirmation. Confirmation is the special Sacra- 
ment of strength. Like Baptism, it makes a mark 
upon our souls, so ^hat we can only receive it once. 
Our soul has grown up since Baptism made it a 
child of God, so now Confirmation makes it a sol- 
dier of God. We may be bad, unfaithful soldiers, 
but still the mark will be upon our souls, to show 
forever that we belong to God's service, and that 
we must give an account of the great graces which 
Confirmation gives. 

The outward sign of this Sacrament is given by 
a bishop. 

Holy Eucharist is the greatest of all the Sacra- 
ments. The others give us the grace of God, but 
Holy Eucharist gives us God Himself to be the 
food of our souls. 

God has made very many sorts of food for our 



152 The Sacraments. 

bodies, but our souls are spirits, and there is only 
one food for them, Our Lord Jesus Christ. 

He loves our souls, which are made to His own 
image and likeness, so much that He gives us His 
own body and blood to keep them alive. If we 
gave our bodies no food, they would die; so also 
would our souls die if we did not feed them with 
the Blessed Sacrament. 

You remember how, at the Last Supper, Our Lord 
changed the bread and wine into His own body and 
blood, and said that His priests were to do the same 
thing, so that He might be always with us. He also 
promised that those who received His body and 
blood worthily should have everlasting life. 

In communion we receive Our Lord under one 
kind only — that is, we receive both the body and 
blood under the appearance of bread only, but 
priests receive under the appearances both of bread 
and wine; still, we must remember that they do 
not receive more than we do, as the whole body 
and blood of Our Lord are present both under the 
form of bread and under the form of wine. 

Holy Orders is the Sacrament that makes men 
into priests, and gives them very great and wonder- 
ful graces to make them able to help our souls by 
saying Mass, hearing confessions, and giving us 
the other Sacraments. When once a man is a 
priest, he always remains a priest. The Sacrament 
makes a mark upon his soul which must always re- 
main, so the same mark can only be received once. 

Extreme Unction is the Sacrament that people 
receive when they are very ill. When they receive 
it, it often makes them strong and well again; so 



The Sacraments. 153 

that we should always receive Extreme Unction as 
soon as we are seriously ill. It gives us a special 
remedy against the evil done to our souls by all the 
sins we have committed with our hands and feet, 
our eyes, ears, and mouths, and if we are to die it 
gives us great help to make a good and happy death. 

We can only receive Extreme Unction once in our 
illness, but if we get better, and then afterwards 
get ill again, we may have the Sacrament a second 
time. 

Matrimony is the Sacrament by which God gives 
grace to people when they are married, so that they 
may be loving and kind to one another and bring 
up their children to be good and love God. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

THE HOLY SACRIFICE OF, THE MASS — BENEDICTION 
— VESPERS — COMPLINE. 

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass means the offer- 
ing up of Our Lord's body and blood upon the altar 
for us. You remember that at the Last Supper 
Jesus took the bread and blessed it, and said: 

" This is My body." Then afterwards He took 
some wine in a chalice, or cup, and said: 

" This is My blood," and the bread and wine were 
changed into His body and blood. Then He said 
to His apostles, " Do this in remembrance of Me," 
and ever since that time at every Mass that is said 
the priest does what Our Lord did, and changes 
the bread and wine into the body and blood of 
Jesus Christ. 

The Blessed Sacrament is not a sacrament only, 
it is also a sacrifice. It is a sacrament which we 
receive as the food of our soul; it is a sacrifice 
when it is offered up for us on the altar. Our Lord 
made Himself our Brother and the Head or Chief 
among men, so that He might offer Himself up to 
God as a sacrifice for our sins, which He took upon 
Himself. 

154 



The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. 155 

The first part of the Mass is only the preparation 
for the sacrifice. The priest confesses his sins in 
the sight of God, prays for forgiveness, says many 
prayers, and reads the Epistle and Gospel, which 
change every day. 

After the Gospel the priest puts the wine and 
water into the chalice, and offers them and the Host 
to God, and we should join our intention to his. 
Every Mass is offered up for these four great in- 
tentions : 

1. For God's honor and glory. 

2. In memory of the Passion and death of Christ. 

3. In thanksgiving for all the blessings we have 
received. 

4. To obtain the forgiveness of our sins, and all 
the means which are necessary to our salvation. 

We may also offer up the Mass for what we want 
ourselves, for our own friends, for the souls in pur- 
gatory, or anything else we like that belongs to 
Gcd's service. 

After the Offertory, as it is called, comes the 
Preface, when we ask all the saints and angels to 
join us in praising God. At the end of the Preface 
the bell rings three times, and the priest says: 
"Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Hosts! " 

At the Consecration, when the priest says the 
words, " This is My body," the bread is changed 
into the body of Our Lord. When he takes the 
chalice and says, " This is My blood," the wine is 
changed into the blood of Christ. 

The body and blood of Our Lord cannot now be 
separated or divided, so that they are both con- 
tained under the appearance of bread, and both un- 



156 TJie Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. 

der the appearance of wine. The Church shows 
them to us on the altar as if they were separate, 
to remind us that on Mount Calvary Our Lord's 
hody and blood were really separated, when He 
shed all His blood and died for us. 

So, after the Consecration, or after the Elevation, 
when the priest raises or elevates first the conse- 
crated Host, and then the chalice with the precious 
blood, that we may see and adore them, Our Lord 
is truly present on the altar, looking at us and hear- 
ing us speak to Him, as truly as when He listened 
and spoke to the people in Jerusalem and the towns 
where He preached, so you see how reverent and 
respectful we ought to be at Mass. 

At the Communion the bell rings three times, 
when the priest strikes his breast and says three 
times these words : 

" Lord, I am not worthy that Thou shouldst enter 
under my roof; say but the word and my soul shall 
be healed." 

After that the priest gives himself holy com- 
munion, and if there are any people going to re- 
ceive communion, they go up to the altar rails. 

The part of the Mass that comes after that is 
the thanksgiving for the great sacrifice which was 
made when Our Lord came upon the altar to be the 
food of the priest and of the people in holy com- 
munion. 

When the Mass is over, Our Lord still remains 
on the altar, when the Blessed Sacrament is kept 
in the tabernacle. He said to us : " Behold, I am 
with you all days, even to the end of the world.' 1 
And He keeps His promise by being always in the 



The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. 157 

tabernacle. The tabernacle is the kind of box 
which is in the middle of the altar, and is generally 
covered by curtains. 

Jesus is the Good Shepherd, and we are His 
sheep, and the tabernacle is the place where He 
lives that He may be near to us, and that we may 
always know where to find Him. 

In the long dark nights, when the church is shut 
up and we are in bed and asleep, our dear Lord is 
in the tabernacle watching over us and praying for 
us, and He is very pleased if we get up in the morn- 
ing and go to pay Him a visit. 

Our Lord likes to be always there, so that if any 
one is ill He can be carried to the house, to give 
Himself to the poor sick person, to feed his soul and 
comfort him, and be with him if he is going to die. 

When Our Lord gives Himself in communion to 
a person who is very ill, we call it " Viaticum," 
which means " On the way with thee," that is, Jesus, 
who died for us and knows how sad and painful 
death is, will be with us at this time to help us to 
die well and to give us strength and courage. 

When you go into the church and see the lamp 
burning in the sanctuary, you know that Jesus is 
there, for the lamp always burns when the Blessed 
Sacrament is in the tabernacle. 

When we pass in front of the altar, we should 
always kneel down on one knee; but if the Blessed 
Sacrament is exposed on the altar, that means, is 
out of the tabernacle for Benediction, or because 
holy communion is being given, we should kneel 
down on both knees. 

There are several services of the Church that you 



158 Benediction, Vespers, Compline. 

often hear about, and to which you may sometimes 
go. These are Vespers, Compline, and Benediction. 
Of these, Vespers and Compline are always late in 
the afternoon or in the evening ; the word " Ves- 
per " means evening. At Vespers the priests and 
people meet together to sing some psalms, and some 
parts of the service change according to the feast of 
the day. 

There are five psalms which are generally the 
same ; the antiphon arid " little chapter " change 
according to the feast. Priests and members of 
religious orders say Vespers every day, but in 
churches it is usual to have them only on Sundays. 

In the same way, Compline, which is also part of 
the priest's office, is sometimes sung in church after 
Vespers, and sometimes by itself, when the service 
would otherwise be too long. Compline is shorter 
than Vespers, and is made up of four psalms, which 
are said by the priest and by the people in alternate 
verses. 

Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament is, after 
Mass, the most beautiful of all the Church services. 
It can take place at any time in the day, but it is 
usually in the evening, so that people may attend 
it when their day's work is over. 

As you know, Our Lord is always with us in the 
tabernacle ; sometimes we like to assemble together 
to praise Him and sing hymns to Him, and then 
to ask Him to give us His blessing, or benediction, 
before we go home again. It is a very simple ser- 
vice. The Blessed Sacrament is taken out of the 
tabernacle and put into a case of gold or silver, 
which has a glass front, so that all can see the Host. 



Benediction* Vespers, Compline. 159 

The priest puts this case, which is called the " mons- 
trance/' on a raised place called the " throne " over 
the tabernacle. 

Many lighted candles are on the altar, and some- 
times flowers. 

Then the people or the choir sing the two hymns 
" O Salutaris Hostia " and " Tantum Ergo/' so 
called from the first words of the hymns. These 
two are always used, and between them is sung the 
litany of Our Lady, or some other hymn. 

The priest incenses the sacred Host, that is, offers 
before it the incense, which is a sign of prayer. 
Then he takes the monstrance down from the 
throne, and, holding it in his hands, which are 
covered with a white or gold veil, he makes with 
it the sign of the cross over the people, who all bow 
down their heads to receive Our Lord's blessing. 

Before putting the Blessed Sacrament again into 
the tabernacle, the priest kneels before it and says 
the " Divine Praises," which you will find in your 
prayer-book. 



CHAPTEE XX. 

PRATER — MISSIONS — PILGRIMAGES — RETREATS — 
CONFRATERNITIES. 

There are a great marry different ways in which 
we can pray. Praying is not only saying words of 
praise, or petition, or contrition to God, it is also 
doing anything which we have to do for God's 
honor and glory. 

We can pray by eating, sleeping, playing, or work- 
ing, if we offer up our action, whatever it may be, 
to God. 

There is a Latin proverb which says, " Laborare 
est orare," which means, " Working is praying " ; 
that is, of course, if the work is good, and done 
with a good motive or intention for God's sake. 

Supposing you were to see some poor sick man 
in want of help, but you would not help him, be- 
cause it was your time to say prayers or the rosary, 
do you think your prayer would be pleasing to God ? 
Certainly not. First do all you can to help others, 
offering up your action to God, and then go back 
and say your prayers. Our Lord will value them 
much more. 

It is well every morning when you first get up 
to make an act, offering up for God's service all 
the thoughts, words, and actions of the day, because 

160 



Prayer. 161 

it is difficult to remember to make such an act be- 
fore each thing we do. 

There is a motto which I should like to see writ- 
ten up in every nursery ; it is, " Work while you 
work, and play while you play." If only little chil- 
dren could remember these words, they would give 
very little trouble to those around them; but, in- 
stead of that, they want to play at prayer-time, 
while they are being dressed, during meals, or when 
they ought to be going to sleep; in fact, all the 
time when they should be quiet and steady. 

Then sometimes, when it is play-time, and they 
are wanted to amuse themselves, they suddenly find 
that they do not care to play, and they bother every- 
body to come and amuse them, or else they quarrel 
or cry about nothing. They must remember that 
Jesus was once a little child like themselves, and 
they must try to behave as He would have behaved. 
It is good to play at play-time, for, as I have told 
you, playing is a sort of prayer, if we intend to 
honor God by it. 

Grown-up people have many different kinds of 
prayer, which little children do not understand 
much about. I will try to explain them to you, so 
that, when you hear people talking about them, you 
will know what they mean. 

Sometimes you hear of people going on pilgrim- 
ages. That means that they go to visit some place 
that is holy, so as to say their prayers there. There 
are many such places in the world. The greatest 
of all these is what is called the " Holy Land," that 
means, the country round Jerusalem and Bethle- 
hem, where Our Lord was born, and where He did 



162 Pilgrimages. 

so many wonderful things, and especially Calvary, 
the mountain on which He died to save mankind. 
People like to travel to the Holy Land, which is 
called Palestine, and then they go round from place 
to place, visiting the spots at which Our. Lord is 
known to have been, and praying there. 

Many other pilgrims go to places at which the 
Blessed Virgin has appeared to people at different 
times. There is Lourdes, in the south of France, 
which is a very favorite pilgrimage. I will tell you 
the story of this place. 

Very many years ago a little peasant girl, named 
Bernadette, lived at a village called Lourdes. She 
was a very good little girl, and often while she was 
minding her sheep she would be praying to Our 
Lady. One day as she was kneeling to pray on a 
mountain side, she heard a voice, and, looking up, 
she saw our blessed Lady standing at the opening 
of a grotto or cave in the mountain. 

The Blessed Virgin spoke to Bernadette many 
times. The last time, before she disappeared, she 
caused a miraculous stream of water to pour out 
of the grotto near where she had been standing. 
In this blessed water hundreds of poor sick people 
have been bathed, and thereby healed; hundreds of 
poor cripples have received the use of their limbs 
after being dipped in it; and many hundreds of 
people who did not believe in God have been con- 
verted by the sight of the wonderful cures worked 
by Our Lady of Lourdes. 

To this very day these cures still go on, so very 
many people go to Lourdes, some to bathe in the 
water, others to pray there and honor Our Lady. 



Pilgrimages. 163 

Besides Lourdes, there are many other places in 
nearly every country where there are miraculous 
statues or pictures of the Blessed Virgin, which pil- 
grims go to venerate. There are also many places 
to which people go to honor some special saint. 
You may have heard of St. Winifride's Well, where 
so many people are cured. 

Hundreds of years ago a holy martyr, called 
Winifride, was killed there. At the place where 
her head fell when it was cut off a stream of water 
gushed out, and since that day numberless sick peo- 
ple have been cured by bathing in the miraculous 
waters. 

The same thing happened at a place near Rome, 
called Tre Fontane, or " three fountains." The 
head of St. Paul when it was cut off rolled into 
these three places, and from each there sprang a 
stream of water. These three streams still flow, 
and many people go every year to drink of them, 
and to pray to St. Paul. Now I think you must 
know what pilgrimages are. 

Then you must often have heard of people mak- 
ing " novenas " and " triduos " ; that means that 
they resolve for nine or three days to say some par- 
ticular prayer or do some particular act of morti- 
fication to obtain some special grace or favor they 
want. 

Many people make a novena to the infant Jesus 
by saying, for nine days before Christmas, the 
litany of the holy Child, so as to obtain grace to 
overcome their faults during the following year; 
others make a triduo to Our Lady by saying for 
three days three " Hail Marys" to Our Lady to 



164 Retreats. 

obtain some favor they want. Many little children 
like for three days to make some little acts of pen- 
ance, such as doing without sweets, and offer up 
their mortification to Our Lady for some one they 
love. 

We can be very kind to the souls in purgatory 
by offering novenas or triduos to Our Lord, that 
He may have pity on the souls of the faithful de- 
parted. 

To make a retreat is a very favorite form of de- 
votion for grown-up people, or even for girls and 
boys at school. For three days, or sometimes even 
for eight days, they devote their whole time to de- 
votion, listening to sermons, making meditations, 
saying prayers, and reading pious books. They do 
not talk to anybody, or receive any letters, but try 
to think of nothing but the sins they have com- 
mitted, and what they are going to do to become 
better Christians in the future. 

Many people are too poor or too busy to give all 
their time in that way — they have their work to 
do in the daytime; so priests come and give a 
" mission " for them — that is, they say Mass and 
preach in the morning for these people, and in the 
evening they preach again, and give Benediction. 
Besides this, there are other services in the day for 
those who have time to attend them. The priests 
do all they can to excite the people to begin again 
to lead a better life, and to persuade those who have 
not been to confession and communion for a long 
time to be more regular for the future. 

Then many pious people join confraternities, of 
which there are different kinds — some for women, 



Confraternities. 165 

some for men, some for children, some which every- 
body can join. 

The best confraternity for children is that of 
the " Holy Childhood," for the age of admis- 
sion into it is from baptism to the age of twenty- 
one. 

The object of this confraternity is to save little 
children in foreign countries, to baptize them, and, 
if they live, to bring them up to be good Christians ; 
so you see that, by joining this confraternity, even 
little children can help others who are not as happy 
as themselves. 

By the rules of this society we have to say each 
day one " Hail Mary," and the little prayer, 
" Virgin Mary, pray for us and for the poor little 
pagan children." Besides this, we must pay one 
penny in the month, or twelve cents a year. This 
is not very much to spare; we can easily manage 
it by doing without a few sweets or a toy every 
now and then, and it is nice to think that we are 
helping to save some little brother or sister. In 
China and other countries poor people are very cruel 
to their children; they put them out in the roads 
or fields to die of cold and hunger, and even to be 
eaten by dogs. 

The kind missionaries, as the priests who work in 
strange countries are called, and many holy nuns 
go about picking up these poor neglected children, 
and carrying them back to their houses or convents. 
Many of the poor little things die as soon as they 
are baptized, and their souls go straight to God; 
others live and are brought up to different trades; 
they become good Christians, and many, in their 



166 Confraternities. 

turn, become missionaries, and carry on the work 
of the confraternity. 

When I tell you the exact meaning of the word 
confraternity — con, "with," f rater, "a brother" — 
you will understand how beautiful it is for Chris- 
tians of all ages and ranks and countries to work 
together, as " one brother with another," to help 
God's poor suffering children. 

There are other confraternities that children can 
join, such as that of the " Holy Angels " and " St. 
Aloysius." As they get older, and have made their 
first communion, they may become " Children of 
Mary"; but, however young they are, they must 
remember to be faithful brothers or sisters, and to 
be careful not to forget any of the rules of their 
confraternity. 



CHAPTEK XXI. 
prayer {Continued) — " our father" — " hail 

MARY." 

Once, after Our Lord had been preaching to 
them, the apostles asked Him to teach them some 
prayer which they could always say, and Jesus 
taught them the " Our Father." Since that time it 
is the prayer that we most often use, but many 
people pronounce the words of it without thinking 
of their meaning. 

We ought to try to understand what Our Lord 
wished to teach us, and as we repeat His words 
ourselves really enter into their meaning, and say 
the prayer very reverently, as Jesus Himself said it. 

You will notice that the first three parts or pe- 
titions concern God and our duty to Him; those 
that come after concern ourselves and what we want 
and do. 

" Our Father." We are here speaking to the^ 
great God in heaven, the Father, Son, and Holy 
Ghost. When Jesus spoke to St. Mary Magdalen,, 
after He had risen from the dead, He said: 

"I go to My Father and to your Father, to My 
God and to your God." 

He had made Himself our brother, the eldest of 

167 



168 Prayer— ■" Our Father: 1 

our family, and He speaks to God with us as " Our 
Father." When we say the prayer, we say it with 
all our brothers and sisters; that is, all the men and 
women in the world, and specially those who belong 
to us and are dear to us. 

When God tells us to call Him "Father," He 
reminds us that He is really Our Father, that He 
loves us as no earthly father could do, and also 
that He takes upon Himself a duty towards us to 
take care of us and provide for us, in the same way 
as an earthly father has a duty to take care of and 
provide for his children. 

" The words " who art in heaven," remind us of 
God's power to protect and help us. A father on 
earth may be very anxious to do good to his chil- 
dren, but he may be poor and not able to help them ; 
but our other Father is the powerful God of heaven, 
who can do all things. He reminds us that heaven 
is His home, and that children, if they are obedient 
and loving and good, have a right to their Father's 
home, and that therefore there is a place in heaven 
for each of us if we deserve it. We must not forget 
also that there is a place ready, not only for us, but 
for all our neighbors, so that we must look forward 
to seeing them in heaven, and pray that they may 
not lose their places. 

" Hallowed be Thy name." Hallowed means kept 
holy, so that by these words we pray that God's 
name may be always praised and reverenced. Es- 
pecially God wants us to reverence His name of 
Father. He might have told us to speak to Him 
as God, or Creator, or Judge, but He does not; we 
are told to call Him Father, and our prayers to 



Prayer—" Our Father:' 169 

Him as Our Father are more pleasing to Him than 
prayers offered to Him by any other name, because 
He wishes us to love Him with our whole heart. 

" Thy kingdom come." These are very few 
words, but it would take us a very long time to 
think of all the things they mean. 

God wishes to be King over us, to rule over and 
protect us; but often we will not let Him. We 
obey the laws of the country; we do not kill or 
steal, because we should be put into prison and 
punished if we did, but we will not obey God's 
laws and do what He tells us. We choose to forget 
that He, too, will punish us, because the next world 
seems such a long way off that we do not trouble 
ourselves about it. 

So you see, by this petition,, we pray that every 
one all over the world may keep the Command- 
ments and may love God, because the order to love 
Him is the first and greatest of the Commandments. 

We pray, too, that the Church, which has to teach 
people about God and how to serve Him, may be 
spread over the whole world and may be everywhere 
more powerful; also we pray for ourselves, that we 
may belong more and more to God, and that His 
kingdom, which is the happiness of heaven, may 
come to us. 

" Thy will be done." This is a very big prayer, 
too. God sees and knows all things. He sees what 
is right and best for every one, therefore we ought 
to wish for only the things which God wishes us 
to have. 

Instead of that, all over the world, people are 
trying to do their own will and get their own way. 



170 Prayer— ' ' Our Father. " 

Children often say in their morning prayers " Thy 
will be done," but presently, perhaps, they want to 
go out and it begins to rain. God wished it to 
rain, and they have just been praying that His will 
may be done, and still they are crying and grum- 
bling because they did not get their way about go- 
ing out. Do you think they can really have meant 
what they said in their prayers? 

We should try to think what we are saying and 
then really mean it. 

By this petition we are asking that all the people 
in the world may do what God wants them to do, 
that priests and monks and nuns may be very holy, 
that poor people and sick people may be very pa- 
tient, that fathers and mothers and children, and all 
sorts of people, may be good. We pray that people 
whom God wants to be Catholics may be brought 
into the Church, that those who are wicked may 
repent, and that those who are dying may have a 
happy death. Just see what a number of things 
we ask when we say " Thy will be done " ; we are 
just asking for all the things that God wants. 

" Give us this day our daily bread." This is the 
first petition or prayer which we make for our 
bodies, as well as for our souls. It means that we 
are to ask every day for the things that we want. 
God might have ordered us to ask on the first day 
of every year for all the things we wanted for the 
year. But then, when we had got what we wanted, 
we might have forgotten God until next new year's 
day. So God said that we must ask Him every day 
for what we want, and that makes us have to pray 
every day. 



Prayer — u Our Father." 171 

God has said that He " delights to be with the 
children of men/' so He wishes us to come to Him 
very often, to ask Him for what we want for our 
souls and bodies. For our souls, we ask for God's 
help and grace, for any of the sacraments of which 
we are in want, and for the actual grace to keep us 
from falling into sin. 

For our bodies we ask for food and clothes, and 
all the things we need to keep us in health. You 
see, we are to ask for our daily bread; that is, for 
what is really necessary. God does not want us to 
be always wishing for cakes and sweeties and pleas- 
ant things, though He often gives them to us. We 
must ask for what we want for the day, not for 
things that we may want to-morrow or next year. 
We must learn to trust in God that He will give us 
what is needful for us. 

" And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive 
them that trespass against us." Our trespasses are 
the bad things that we do against God or our neigh- 
bor. When we say these words we are asking God 
to forgive us our sins as we forgive other people 
the unkind things that they have done to us. So 
that if some persons have vexed us, or done some- 
thing to hurt us, and we will not forgive and be 
friends with them, we are asking God not to forgive 
us or be friends with us, who are always offending 
Him. 

Very often people say, " I will forgive So-and-so, 
but I never want to see him or her again." What 
would happen to us if God said, after giving us 
absolution, that He never wanted to see us again? 
When we think of this, we shall see how careful 



172 Prayer—" Our Father." 

we must be to keep away angry feelings towards 
those who have displeased us. 

" And lead us not into temptation." 

These words do not mean that God leads any one 
into temptation to make him sin. God allows temp- 
tation to come to us that we may show how far we 
are really trying to be good. 

Many people think, when no temptation is near 
them, that they will never fall into sin, and that 
they are much better than their neighbors. When 
the temptation comes, if they fall, they begin to see 
how weak they are, and then they turn to God for 
help, and they are more humble. 

Remember that every time a temptation comes, 
the grace to resist it comes too, and if we are brave 
and resist, we please God much more than we should 
have done if we had never been tempted. So by 
this prayer we do not ask to have all temptations 
kept out of our way, but only those temptations by 
which God sees that we should fall into sin. 

" But deliver us from evil. Amen." 

By this petition we ask to be kept from all those 
things which are bad for our souls. Children often 
do not think what this means, for it is difficult to 
understand what evil is. Some people think it is 
an evil to be poor or sick, or to have people say 
unkind things, but God sees that these things are 
not evils at all, but often very good for our souls. 
If poverty had really been an evil, would God have 
given it to His blessed Mother, or to the apostles, 
or to the saints, His friends? 

When people have prayed a long time to be de- 
livered from evil, they think that God has not heard 



Prayer—" Hail Mary? 173 

them, because crosses and pains come to them, when 
all the time God has heard their prayers, and de- 
livered them from the evil that too. much comfort 
and pleasure was doing them. 

The " Amen " we find at the end of almost all 
prayers. When the priest is saying Mass, and the 
server says, at the end of each prayer, " Amen," he 
is joining in the priest's prayer, and asking that it 
may be granted. In the same way, in public pray- 
ers or family prayers, one person says the words, 
and the others join in by saying " Amen," which 
really means " so be it." 

The " Hail Mary " is the chief of all the prayers 
to our bl&ssed Lady. It is the prayer which has 
been taught to us by God Himself. He sent the 
archangel Gabriel to say to her, " Hail, full of 
grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou 
amongst women." The Holy Ghost, when He told 
St. Elizabeth that her cousin, the Virgin Mary, was 
the Mother of God, taught her to say, " Blessed art 
thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of 
thy womb, Jesus." The Church, under the guid- 
ance of the Holy Ghost, added the words, " Holy 
Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now, and 
at the hour of our death. Amen." 

Our blessed Mother is " full of grace " because 
she was free from every sort of sin, original and 
actual. God had given her the most wonderful 
graces to make her fit to be the Mother of God, 
and she had never lost one single grace. When God 
gives us grace, if we use it, another grace follows 
and then another, like the links in a long chain. 
If, when the grace comes, we do not use it, then the 



174 Prayer — " Hail Mary." 

next does not come, so we lose all that we might 
have had. Our dear Mother used every grace to 
the utmost, so new ones were poured in upon her 
soul, making it more and more beautiful in the 
sight of God. 

" The Lord is with thee." Jesus was in a most 
special manner with our blessed Lady. All her life 
He was with her, guiding her and defending her, 
and He is now with her most perfectly for all eter- 
nity. Our Lord is with each one of us, always look- 
ing at us, always listening to us, and defending 
us from danger. 

Sometimes. we think that there are so many people 
in the world, that God will not notice in the crowd 
if we do not often think of Him or speak to Him; 
hut we must remember that God sees each one of us 
as though we were the only person in the world. 
l$o one can take our place; if we do not speak, 
there is silence. If we thought of this a little more 
often, we should not let so many hours pass by 
without speaking to God or looking at Him. 

" Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed 
is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus." 

Only one woman could be the Mother of God, 
and how blessed was she in being chosen for that 
great honor! How blessed was she when she held 
Him in her arms, and fed Him, and hushed Him to 
sleep, and when He grew older, and looked in her 
face and called her Mother! How blessed was she 
when He was always near her, and she felt how 
much He, her God and her Son, loved her. How 
blessed was she when she stood beside His cross, 



Prayei — u Hail Mary." 175 

and knew that she was helping Him by her love 
in His great work of saving souls! 

We must try to understand that she was the most 
blessed of all women, though she had none of the 
things that we call blessings. She had not money, 
or fine clothes and beautiful houses and plenty of 
things to amuse her, for she was only a poor car- 
penter's wife. Though in statues and pictures we 
see Our Lady very grandly dressed, we know that, 
when she was on earth, she was very poor and 
humble, though now she is Queen of heaven. 

" Pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of 
our death. Amen." 

Jesus was so anxious that we should be saved 
that He gave us to His blessed Mother to be her 
children, in order that she might pray for us. She 
is His Mother, and He cannot refuse her prayers; 
therefore, if she will pray for us, we shall be saved. 
Our Lord knows how much we want prayers, so 
that, even when He was nailed to the cross, He put 
His Mother and our Mother by His side that she 
might pray for us. 

The time when we shall most want prayers is 
when we come to die; therefore God has taught us 
to ask Our Lady every day, and many times a day, 
to pray for us that we may be ready when He 
calls us. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

OUR BLESSED LADY. 

After our love and devotion to Our Lord Jesus 
Christ must surely come our love and devotion to 
His most holy Mother, the blessed Virgin Mary. 

She is not only His Mother, but our Mother, and 
she loves and cares for her weak and sinful children.. 
She is never tired of loving us and praying for us; 
however weak or sinful we have been, we know 
that her Mother's heart is always ready to welcome 
us, as soon as we are sorry and wish to do better. 

If we feel lonely and miserable, we know that 
we have always a Mother in heaven, to whom we 
may look for help and comfort; for she too has 
known sorrow and loneliness. Her only Son died 
upon the cross to save us, and yet she loves us and 
calls us her children. 

What an example to us, who find it so hard to 
forgive any one who has offended us, even in some 
small thing ! When we say the litany of Our Lady r 
we call her by many names of love and respect. 
Sometimes little children find it hard to understand 
what some of these names mean. 

The first and most beautiful title we can give 

176 



Our Blessed Lady. 177 

to the Blessed Virgin is that of Mother — " Mother 
of Christ," "Mother of divine Grace." We call 
Our Lady that name, for, as Jesus is the source 
or fountain of grace, all grace flows from Him, 
and, through Him, from His holy Mother. " Mother 
most pure," " most chaste," " inviolate," " unde- 
nted." All these words mean that Our Lady is ab- 
solutely spotless; not even the stain of original sin 
ever touched her for a single minute. 

" Mother most amiable," that is, most loving and 
most worthy of love ; " most admirable," the being 
whom we admire above all others. " Virgin most 
venerable," that is, whom we venerate or respect; 
" Virgin most renowned," that is, most great, most 
famous; for what Christian is there in the whole 
world who does not know of Our Lady's greatness? 

" Mirror of Justice," which means the very mir- 
ror or reflection of truth and justice; "Seat of 
Wisdom," for was not Our Lady taught by God 
Himself, the fount of all wisdom? " Spiritual 
Vessel," " Vessel of Honor," " Singular Vessel of 
Devotion " — all these titles mean that Our Lady was 
like a precious vessel, or vase, filled with honor and 
devotion. " Mystical Rose." As the rose is the 
queen of flowers, so is Our Lady the Queen of all 
women. " Tower of David." Our Lady was of the 
house, or family, of King David. " Tower of 
Ivory," for ivory is pure white, as is the soul of 
the Blessed Virgin. " House of Gold," for gold is. 
the most precious of all metals, as our Mother is 
the most precious of all creatures. 

" Ark of the Covenant." The stone tables on 
which God wrote His law, or covenant, with His, 



178 Our Blessed Lady. 

people, were the most precious and cherished treas- 
ures of the Jews; they kept them in an ark of pure 
gold, so that we speak of Our Lady as of the ark 
in which was held our greatest treasure, Jesus 
Christ. We like to use these titles, because when, 
in the Bible, the prophets spoke of Our Lady, tell- 
ing how one day the Messias would be born of her, 
they gave her these names of praise. 

Then we call Our Lady the " Gate of Heaven," 
for how can we hope to pass into paradise unless 
our Mother pleads for us ? " Morning Star " is 
another name for her. When the shipwrecked 
sailor sees the star of morning gleaming before him, 
he knows that day is coming, bringing with it help 
and safety. In the same way, when our souls are 
shipwrecked and afraid, the thought that our 
Mother in heaven is always waiting to help us is 
like a star shining before us, bringing hope and 
-comfort. 

"Health of the Sick," " Ref uge of Sinners," 
<c Comforter of the Sorrowful." What lovely and 
what true names are these for our loving Mother! 
Then she is our Queen — Queen of angels, of saints, 
and of men. " Queen conceived without original 
•sin " : for, as you know, Our Lady was born with- 
out even a stain of original sin; the devil never 
entered into her pure heart for one single minute. 
" Queen of the most holy Rosary," for we know that 
the Rosary is the form of prayer most pleasing to 
Our Lady. 

I am sure that you would like to hear more about 
the Rosary now that you know how pleasing it is 
to the Blessed Virgin, so I will tell you about it. 



Our Blessed Lady. 179 

You all know what a rosary is like. At the end 
there is a crucifix; then one big bead, then three 
little ones. Then the rest of the rosary is divided 
into ^.Ye portions or decades, with one big bead and 
ten little ones in each. 

The rosary is made to represent a crown or chap- 
let of roses, which we offer to Our Lady. 

On the cross it is usual to say "In the name of 
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. 
Amen." On the first big bead we recite the Creed, 
and on the three little ones three " Hail Marys." 
Then begin the five decades, for each of which one 
" Our Father " is said on the big bead, and one 
" Hail Mary " on each of the little ones. At the 
end of each decade is added the " Glory be to the 
Father." 

While we are saying the Rosary we try to medi- 
tate, that is, think about something that happened 
during the life of Christ or of the Blessed Virgin. 
These meditations, or thoughts, are arranged in 
this way: 

The first five decades — that is, once round the 
rosary — are given up to joyful thoughts; those are 
the five " Joyful Mysteries " : the " Annunciation," 
"Visitation," "Birth of Our Lord," "Presentation," 
and " Finding in the Temple." You see, all these 
things happened before the suffering part of Christ's 
life began, while He was still with His parents. 

The next five decades — that is, the second time 
round the rosary — are called the five " Sorrowful 
Mysteries." While we say them we meditate on 
the Passion of Christ, His " Agony in the Garden," 
" Scourging at the Pillar," " Crowning with 



180 Oar Blessed Lady. 

Thorns," " Carrying of the Cross," and " Cruci- 
fixion." 

Then begin the " Glorious Mysteries," the time 
after the death of Jesus, when His sufferings and 
His works were over : the " Resurrection," " Ascen- 
sion," " Descent, or coming down, of the Holy 
Ghost," the " Assumption of Our Lady," and her 
" Coronation." 

You see, we speak of the " Ascension " of Our 
Lord and the " Assumption " of Our Lady. That is 
because Our Lord ascended or rose into heaven of 
His own power and will, while Our Lady, as 
creature, was assumed or raised up there. God sent 
His angels to fetch their Queen up to heaven to 
reign over them. 

If you think of all these things while you are 
saying the " Our Fathers " and " Hail Marys," you 
will be pleasing Our Lady very much, and you will 
also be learning to meditate. 

All over the world Catholics love to honor Our 
Lady, and especially to honor her by reciting her 
favorite prayer, the " Hail Mary." In another part 
of this book you will read why the Blessed Virgin 
loves this prayer so much. During the month of 
October the Holy Father — that is, the Pope — has 
ordered that five mysteries be said in every church, 
and he has promised special indulgences to all who 
take part in this devotion. 9 

In every country one month is specially devoted 
or given up to prayer for some special intention. 
We are not obliged to choose any particular order 
of intention, but I will give you one which many 
people like to use. January, in honor of the Sacred 



Our Blessed Lady, 181 

Infancy; February, the Holy Family; March, St. 
Joseph; April, the Passion of Our Lord; May, the 
Blessed Virgin; June, the Sacred Heart; July, the 
t Precious Blood ; August, the Holy Ghost ; Septem- 
ber, the Immaculate Heart of Mary; October, the 
Holy Angels; November, the Souls in Purgatory; 
December, Advent. 

In the same way the days of the week can be 
given to some devotion: Sunday, the Blessed Trin- 
ity; Monday to the Holy Ghost and the Souls in 
Purgatory; Tuesday, the Holy Angels; Wednesday, 
St. Joseph; Thursday, the Blessed Sacrament; Fri- 
day, the Sacred Heart; and Saturday, the Virgin 
Mary. 

When we wish to honor the sorrows of Our Lady, 
we speak to her of the seven dolors or sufferings 
which she endured upon earth, and we thank her 
for suffering them so patiently, and because she 
loves us still, though we have made her suffer so 
cruelly. 

The first dolor was the prophecy of Simeon. 
Do you remember how the holy prophet Simeon 
told Our Lady that her little Baby would die a 
cruel death to save men? What sorrow this must 
have caused the poor loving Mother! 

The second dolor was the flight into Egypt, 
when Our Lady was obliged to leave her happy 
home to fly into Egypt with her little Child, to 
save Him from Herod. 

The third dolor was when Our Lady sought her 
Son for three days. Do you remember how at last 
she found Him in the Temple, sitting among the 
doctors ? 



182 Our Blessed Lady. 

The fourth suffering of Our Lady was when she 
met Jesus carrying His cross on the way to Cal- 
vary; she saw Him suffering, and she could not 
help Him. 

Then she saw Him die. That fifth dolor must 
almost have been the worst of all. Our Lady must 
have felt so sad and lonely when she knew that her 
Son was dead, and could never be with her again 
upon earth. 

When the soldier had'piereed the Heart of Jesus 
with a lance, and St. Joseph of Arimathea and 
Nlcodemus took His sacred body down from the 
cross, a sword of sorrow, the sixth dolor, pierced the 
heart of His Mother, who stood by the cross to the 
last. 

The seventh sorrow came to Our Lady when she 
saw the body of her Son laid in the tomb, and hid- 
den from sight. She could no longer watch by 
Him, but was obliged to return to her desolate home. 

It is comforting to think of Mary's joy when her 
divine Son rose from the dead, and she saw Him 
again in all His glory and happiness. For long years 
she lived a life of prayer and good works; then, 
when the time had come, she gave up her spotless 
soul to God, and the third day after her death He 
sent His angels to carry her body up to heaven to 
reign there as Queen forever and ever. 

Another very good way in which we can honor the 
sufferings of Jesus and Mary is by making what is 
called the " Stations of the Cross." You will see 
the pictures for them in every church ; the Pope has 
promised many indulgences to all who take part in 
this devotion. 



Our Blessed Lady. 183 

The first station is when Jesus is condemned to 
death. We try to think ourselves standing with 
Jesus before Pilate; we mourn over His sufferings, 
and beg Him to forgive the part we have taken in 
causing them. While we are thinking, we say one 
" Our Father," one " Hail Mary," and one " Glory 
be to the Father." 

In the second station we follow Our Lord, as it 
were, on His road to Calvary; we see His patience 
as He carries His heavy cross, and we say the same 
prayers as before. 

Then, at the third station, Jesus falls for the first 
time under the weight of His cross; we remember 
that it was our sins that caused Him to carry that 
cross, and we promise to try to sin no more. 

Then we watch Jesus as He meets His holy 
Mother; we mourn for the dreadful grief of those 
two loving hearts. How many times have we, by 
our sinfulness, caused grief to Jesus and Mary! 

At last Jesus grows too weak to support the 
weight of His cross. The cruel executioners seize 
Simon of Gyrene, and force him to help Jesus. At 
first his heart is hard, but soon it melts with com- 
passion, and Simon loves Jesus. We, too, can help 
Our Saviour to carry His cross if we will forget 
ourselves, and do only God's will. 

A woman, moved with pity, comes forward, in 
spite of the mockery of the guards, and wipes the 
face of Jesus. Let us pray that we, like Veronica, 
may have the courage all our lives to follow Jesus, 
in spite of the difficulties and temptations. 

Although Simon of Cyrene does all he can to help 
Our Saviour, Jesus falls a second time; the cruel 



\ 

184 Our Blessed Lady. 

soldiers drag Him up with blows and insults. Let 
us try, by our love and devotion, to make reparation 
to Our Lord for the insults He receives from men. 

Some holy women in the crowd that watches 
Jesus are touched by His patience and the sight of 
His sufferings; they weep for Him. But Jesus is 
not thinking of Himself, He comforts the sorrow- 
ing women. Should not this teach us to think less 
of ourselves and our little troubles, and more of 
those around us and their troubles? 

For the third time Jesus falls, but still He is 
patient and does not complain. Let this thought 
comfort us if, time after time, we fall into sin. 
Jesus will be patient with us. 

At last Our Lord has reached Calvary. His 
executioners strip Him of His clothes. Let us strip 
ourselves of our pride, and of the false shame which 
would prevent us from owning ourselves the serv- 
ants of Christ. 

Jesus is nailed to the cross for our sins. Shall 
we not beg His forgiveness again and again, and 
resolve to be faithful to Him who suffered so much 
for us? 

When the cross on which the body of Christ has 
been nailed is raised before us, let us kneel and 
worship Our Saviour. At least we can promise to 
do some little act of mortification, and lay any suf- 
fering we may have to endure at His feet. 

And now the si ?o~ings of Christ are over. St. 
Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus tenderly and 
reverently take His sacred body down from the 
cross, and lay it in the arms of the Blessed Virgin. 
Let us pray that we, too, may be received in the 



Our Blessed Lady. 185 

arms of Mary, our Mother, and the Mother of 
God. 

Jesus is laid in the sepulchre. He has died for 
our sins; at least we will be grateful to Him, and 
not wound His Heart again by our negligence and 
want of love. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

THE SAINTS. 

When we say the litany of the Saints we say: 
" All ye holy Martyrs, pray for us ;" " All ye holy 
Confessors, pray for us.". 

Some little children wonder how there come to 
be so many different kinds of saints. I will ex- 
plain to you about them. Saints are holy people 
who are declared by the Church to have died in 
such a degree of holiness as to make it sure that 
they are in heaven; therefore we ask them to beg 
Our Lord to grant our prayers. Remember, we do 
not pray to saints or angels to help us themselves, 
for they could not do that, so we pray them to beg 
Our Lord to help us. But the saints did not all 
serve God in exactly the same way. 

Some of them gave up their lives for their faith; 
that is to say, they preferred to suffer torture and 
death rather than deny their faith. Such saints are 
called martyrs, and on their feasts the priests wear 
red vestments when they say Mass. Confessors are 
those saints who confessed — that is, declared and 
lived up to their faith, but were not martyrs, and 
on their feasts the vestments are white. 

The virgins are holy people, such as monks, 

186 



The Saints. 187 

priests, and nuns, who were never married, but re- 
mained single all their lives, so as to be able to 
devote their whole time to God's service; but as a 
rule, when we speak of virgins we mean women 
saints who were never married, and generally white 
vestments are used for their feasts. 

The evangelists were the two apostles and two 
other disciples who wrote about the life and works 
of Jesus Christ. Their names were St. Matthew,. 
St. Mark, St. Luke, and St. John. 

Doctors are very learned men, to whom the 
Church gives the title of doctor, or teacher, on ac- 
count of their learned writings; such are St. 
Augustine, St. Ambrose, and St. Thomas Aquinas. 

Hermits were holy men and women who went 
away to the desert and lived, all alone, a life of 
prayer and penance, in memory of the forty days 
Our Lord passed in the desert ; St. Peter the Her- 
mit and St. Anthony were among them. 

The patriarchs were the holy men who lived be- 
fore the qoming of Our Lord, such as Moses, Abra- 
ham, and Noe. 

The prophets were those holy people to whom 
God gave the power of foretelling what was to 
happen, such as Elias, Jeremias, and Isaias. 

We do not pray to the pictures or statues of saints- 
we see in church, neither do we adore the relics of 
saints. Protestants may think that we do, but it is 
not true. We honor and preserve relics of saints 
because they are part of, or have belonged to, some 
very holy person; just as we are very fond of the 
pictures of people we have loved, or of something 
that has belonged to them. 



188 The Saints. 

One of the greatest relics is that of the true cross 
— that is to say, a tiny piece of the cross on which 
Our Saviour was crucified. We love and honor this 
relic because it once touched the sacred body of 
Jesus, and it reminds us of Him ; but we. certainly 
do not pray to a little piece of wood, as people who 
are not Catholics like to say we do. 

They say just the same thing of crucifixes, rosa- 
ries, scapulars, and " Agnus Deis/' but it is not true 
of any of them. We honor crucifixes because they 
remind us how much Jesus loved us, since He was 
willing to die on the cross to save us. We honor 
rosaries because on them we say prayers to Our 
Lady, and we know that she wishes us to honor 
them. Medals are like tiny pictures of Our Lord 
and Our Lady, or some saint. Scapulars are little 
pieces of cloth or flannel representing the habit of 
some religious Order, which are worn by pious peo- 
ple, who would like to have some part in that Order. 

" Agnus Deis " are like little pictures, in wax, of 
our blessed Lord, in the shape of " the Lamb of 
God, who takes away the sins of the world." We 
like to wear them because they remind us of our 
salvation. Rosaries, medals, scapulars, and " Agnus 
Deis " are blessed, and the Pope grants indulgences 
to those who use them. 

All the saints are worthy of our love and respect, 
for they are all God's chosen friends, and have all 
done His work; but some of them we know much 
better than others, so that of course we feel more 
affection for them. Especially we should have a 
great love and devotion to our patron saint, that is, 
the saint whose name was given to us when we were 



The Saints. 189 

baptized. Of very many saints we know nothing, 
not even their names. The little children who were 
killed by King Herod in the place of Our Lord 
were martyrs, for they gave up their lives to save 
that of Our Lord; we do not know their names, 
but we honor them under the title of the " Holy 
Innocents." 

Once a holy saint named Ursula went with a 
great many companions, perhaps some hundreds, to 
convert some people called the Germans ; they were 
all martyred, but we do not know the names of any 
of the others, so we venerate them as St. Ursula 
and companions. 

Hundreds of holy missionaries are still giving up 
their lives, trying to convert the pagans of different 
countries, but we do not know their names, so, when 
we wish to pray to them, we say, " All ye holy 
saints, pray for us." 

There are many saints who were children. St. 
Agnes was only twelve when she gave up her life 
for her faith. They promised her riches and hap- 
piness if she would deny Christ, and they told her 
that she should have her head cut off by the execu- 
tioner if she remained a Christian. But St. Agnes 
was not afraid; she knelt down joyfully to receive 
the blow, for she knew that her soul would go 
straight to God. 

Sometimes the noble courage of the martyrs was 
the means of converting even their cruel execu- 
tioners. 

Once a beautiful Christian maiden, named Doro- 
thea, was led out to death. So great was her 
courage, and so touching the words she spoke, that 



190 The Saints. 

the executioner threw down his sword, declaring 
that he too would be a Christian. They threatened 
him with torture and death, but he remained firm, 
and, by giving up his life, received a martyr's 
crown. This man, who had known nothing of God, 
and had not been baptized in the usual way, went 
straight to heaven, for baptism washes away every 
trace of sin from the soul, and this man received 
at the very moment of death the baptism of blood, 
which you know is the 'same in the result as the 
baptism by water. 

It is very grand and beautiful to be a martyr, 
hut if God does not call on us to die for His sake, 
we can become just as holy by living for Him, that 
is to say, by serving Him all our lives in the way 
He wishes, and by giving by our goodness an ex- 
ample to those around us. 

Priests and nuns can do this better than people 
in the world, in a way ; for they give up their whole 
lives to God's service. But we who are not priests 
or nuns can do a great deal. All kinds of soldiers 
are wanted to make up an army; Christians are 
God's soldiers, and all kinds of them are wanted to 
fight for God's glory. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 

Little children cannot be priests or monks or 
nuns, but I am sure that they would like to hear 
about these holy people, and the lives they lead. 

We will begin with priests and monks. 

Priests are men who have received the Sacrament 
of Holy Orders, and who give up their lives to the 
service of God's creatures; they say Mass, preach, 
administer — that is, give the sacraments — and see 
that children are brought up to know God. 

They visit the sick and those who are under their 
charge, and they lead a busy, useful life. 

Monks are holy men who give up their lives to 
God. They are not quite like priests, for many of 
them do not receive Holy Orders ; they live together 
in a monastery, and are bound by very strict rules. 

Some of them, as the Cistercians, never speak to 
one another; they get up to pray during the night, 
and they eat only once in the day. All their time 
is given up to prayer, study, and hard work; so, 
you see, they help others by their prayers and ex- 
ample, but not by teaching. 

Most Orders, or kinds, of monks, have some special 
work they carry on. The Dominicans, or followers 

191 



192 Religions Orders. 

of St. Dominic, preach and give missions. The 
Redemptorists used to go and try to save slaves 
and prisoners; now that people's bodies are no 
longer slaves, they try to save their souls. There 
are some monks who live on the top of a high 
mountain called Mount St. Bernard. They train 
dogs to go out and save people who have lost their 
way in the snow. The monks take these poor peo- 
ple to their monastery, and take care of them. 
There are a great many' different kinds of monks, 
and they all have their special work to do. 

In the same way, there are many different kinds 
of nuns. Some Orders are " contemplative " ; that 
means that the nuns, like the Cistercians I told you 
about, give all their time to prayer, meditation, and 
penance. 

Then there are teaching Orders, where the nuns 
give up their time to teaching children. These 
nuns have to study, as well as pray, so that they 
may be able to give the children under their care 
a good education. 

Many nuns, such as the Sisters of Charity, the 
Sisters of Mercy, and the Little Sisters of the Poor, 
devote themselves entirely to poor people. They 
visit the sick in their own homes, or nurse them in 
the convent, and they take care of little children and 
old people. They teach girls to do all kinds of 
work, so that they may be able to earn their living, 
and they take care of blind, or deaf and dumb peo- 
ple; in fact, they do all they can to help God's 
poor. 

Then there are nuns who nurse the sick. Some- 
times they have hospitals to take care of, sometimes 



Religious Orders. 193 

they go to the homes of the sick people and nurse 
them there; always they are ready to help any sick 
person who wants them. 

Nuns cannot preach, but they can give retreats 
to ladies, and prepare children for the sacraments; 
or they can instruct converts, that is to say, people 
who are converted and have become Catholics. Of 
course, they have to be taught all about the Catho- 
lic religion, and many nuns do the work of instruct- 
ing them. 

Though there are so many different kinds of 
monks and nuns, they are all alike in one thing: 
they all do God's work. He has many different 
kinds of work to be done, so He wants different 
kinds of people to do it. We must always treat 
with great respect all those who are giving up their 
lives to God's service. 

Do you remember how we spoke about scapulars, 
and said that they represented the habit of some 
religious Order? The blue scapular is in honor of 
the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady; it was 
begun by some monks called Theatines. The brown 
scapular represents the habit of the Carmelite 
monks and nuns. The red scapular was begun by 
the Passionists. The scapular of the seven dolors 
is black, and is supposed to be part of the Servite 
Fathers' habit. 

If we wear these scapulars — and there are many 
besides these — we, in a way, share in the prayers 
and merits of these Orders. 



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